Family struggles against cancer

When Luciana finally gets to collect the college diploma she began 20 years ago, it will be one of the proudest moments of her life.

“I’ve wanted it so long that even just thinking about ( graduation) makes me start crying,” the 39- yearold mother of three admits.

She began the degree to become a special education technician when she was 19 years old, right out of high school. She stopped to have her first two children and to spend time with them when they were young. She went back to her studies when they started school, only to receive devastating news: her daughter, then 9 years old, was given a diagnosis of thyroid cancer, which had metastasized to her lungs.

For the last few years, Luciana’s focus has been on getting her daughter to and from hospital and being a single mother to her other children, ages 15 and 3. She has had to get by on social assistance, since the fathers of her children are unable to provide financial support.

“I’m very efficient with money,” she says. “I don’t have any hobbies, and I don’t buy anything for myself. All my money is for my kids.”

Luciana and her family are among the thousands who will receive a $ 125 cheque from the Gazette Christmas Fund this year. The money helps to make the holidays a little more cheerful for those in need.

Luciana’s daughter, now 12, is finally stable. She had surgery to remove her thyroid gland, and the cancer in her lungs is dormant. Despite calcium deficiencies caused by lack of a thyroid, she is a happy sixth- grader.

Now that she has improved, Luciana is back at her studies. Her coursework is done, and only a few projects stand between herself and her goal.

Once her degree is finished, Luciana hopes to get a job helping autistic children in the classroom, something she describes as her passion. It’s also a chance for her to give back to a society that she says has never let her down.

“Even though my l i fe hasn’t been easy, I have always found support where I needed it, whether from my family, the hospital, the CLSC, or the city,” she said.

Luciana knows exactly how she will spend her Christmas Fund money this year. Normally a frugal and health- conscious grocery shopper, she will take her kids to the store and let them choose exactly what they want on the table at Christmas. It’s likely to be a strange mix, she says: juice, chips, and smoked salmon are among her children’s favourites.

And just this once, she won’t have to say “no” to something not on sale.