When I was 14 year’s old I was diagnosed with two different types of leukemia
it was the scariest thing that ever happened to me.
I can never thank all of the people that have helped us. When Hope Air and WestJet asked
me if I wanted to try I jumped at the chance and I think they’re going to love it.
Oh my gosh... (laughter) what?
My name is Leora Wildi and I live in Prince George, British Columbia.
I was diagnosed in December of 2009.
I received 4 months of heavy duty chemotherapy treatment
followed by a week of radiation therapy treatment.
After that I had a bone marrow transplant which almost killed me.
The treatment that I required to fix the problems that the
treatment for cancer caused became my life.
I guess it just became this kind of weird reality that we were living in
and I can’t imagine what is was like for Leora when she
was going through her 2nd rounds of treatment.
Her oncologist didn’t want her riding on a bus – she still had no immune system –
and that’s when our relationship with Hope Air began.
Hope Air is a charity that supplies flights for families who
cannot afford their own to get to specialized care…
they helped us fly to Vancouver more than 50 times.
I...probably would not be here without Hope Air.
It’s overwhelming to have so many people come tog ether and help
me and my family in a time when we weren’t able to really help ourselves.
The community of Prince George, they really got behind our family and it seems from
the high schools to the newspaper everyone was helping out in all the ways that they could.
So many people have helped me in the last 8 years... it’s finally time to thank them properly.
(laughters) A scavenger hunt, this is so Leora
Let’s go
Come on! Come on!
See what we’ve got here
Rail Museum.
Oh yeah... He’s the lumberjack dude
Oh… oh… (laughters)
Ahhhh… Cool!
We figured it out!
Coming throuuuugh…
They say a glass is good for your liver
So look for northern lights
Near the Nechako River
Aww!
Oh look at her!
She was the prize at the end.
With the help of WestJet and their charity partner Hope Air…
I’ve been given the opportunity to thank you all with this incredible Thanksgiving dinner
I’ve always felt like thanking people is a lot like saying goodbye.
It’s really hard and it never feels like enough.
How can a 'thank you' be enough.
All of you have helped support us… and have never wavered.
Thanks to Hope Air and WestJet I was given something that changed my life:
The gift of flight.
I want you to have that too. So each of you are getting a round-trip
ticket for two anywhere WestJet flies.
Oh my gosh… (laughter)... what?
(laughters and crowd cheering)
Oh my god… Can I hug you?
(Crowd is cheering, clapping)
There’s so much in life I have to be thankful for
family, friends, generosity of strangers.
To all of you that showed me kindness, unconditional love and helped me
to be the person I am today, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
There are not enough words. Thank you will have to do.