Candles placed in memory of teenager
Port Hope’s Kristey Patel was given a prom dress last year at Peterborough hospital to lift her spirits during cancer battle
A girl who received her Grade 8 graduation dress as a gift in her hospital room in Peterborough last year, as she underwent treatment for brain cancer, has died.
Kristey Patel was 14. She died May 5 at Emily’s House in Toronto, a hospice for children.
Ms. Patel is survived by her mother Hetal, father Yatin and brother Mansav.
She was also the niece of Rajesh and Pooja Patel and the cousin of Arav Patel.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a small private family service has already been held.
Kristey Yatinkumar Patel was from Port Hope and came to Peterborough to receive chemotherapy treatments for her brain cancer last year.
She was in Peterborough Regional Health Centre in April 2019 when her nurse, Shay Cannon, wanted to lift the girl’s spirits.
Ms. Patel had not been well enough to shop for her Grade 8 graduation dress alongside her friends, so Cannon called the owner of the downtown Peterborough boutique SOS Save Our Soles for help.
Store owner Shelby Watt-Leonard came to the hospital with an array of 10 dresses to try on.
Ms. Patel chose a dress in seafoam green, which was given to her by Watt-Leonard as a gift.
There’s now a GoFundMe page set up to collect donations for the Patel family, launched by Benjamin Mills, the youth pastor at Fellowship Baptist Church in Cobourg where Ms. Patel and her brother attended the youth program.
The idea behind the campaign, called Love for the Patels, is to raise money to help the family as the parents have had to take time off work for two years to care for their daughter.
In just four days the crowdfunding campaign raised $6,600, exceeding its goal of $5,000.
Meanwhile, Mills also organized an event in Port Hope on Tuesday night where people were invited to place an LED candle on their porches in memory of Ms. Patel.
Mills bought several hundred LED candles, and was offering them for free from a box on his porch in Port Hope to anyone who wanted to participate.
The GoFundMe page was still active and accepting donations on Tuesday at gofundme.com/f/love-for-the-patels
The online death notice said donations to the Hospital for Sick Children Foundation would be appreciated.