Please Help Santanna’s Dream Live On

Hello, my name is Janna and my best friend’s name is Santanna. She is only 39 years old and a single mother of two; Nevada (18) who is graduating highschool this year and Gavin (20) who just started his apprenticeship.

On September 10, 2024, Santanna was tragically diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer. She had a surgery to remove her pancreas and part of her spleen, however sadly her cancer has spread throughout her body and she is currently in Palliative Care at the Health Sciences Centre and the doctors have advised she only has a few days to weeks to live.

As you can imagine, all of our hearts are breaking daily as we watch our daughter, mother, granddaughter, cousin, aunty, niece, best friend, friend, and coworker slowly dying and there is absolutely nothing we can do to stop it or to heal her pain.

Santanna is the most hard working and dedicated individual I know. A Red River Métis with historical connections to Rooster Town and Red River Métis Settlements. Santanna has dedicated so much of her young life to the Métis community through her elected volunteer work with Seven Oaks Métis Council and a Michif Language Archivist with the Louis Riel Institute which is an affiliate of the Manitoba Métis Federation, the National Government of the Red River Métis.

Santanna’s dream was to one day own her very own home that she could pass down to her two children. However, cancer has taken this dream away from her. It is robbing her of her life, which, at the age of 39, some would say was just beginning. She will not see her daughter graduate high-school or both of her children graduate university or college, she wont get to meet her grandchildren, or even the love of her life. Her children are being left without a mother and as you know, 18 and 20 is considered an adult but yet still so young and vulnerable. Her biggest fear is that her death will leave her children homeless. She worries about how her bills will be paid, how her funeral costs will be covered, and the financial stress her death will cause her children.

I know as a community we can help. Every dollar raised will go to her children, to cover her funeral expenses, pay her debts, help support them while they finish school and get on their own two feet, and if we raise enough, maybe even a down payment on a home for them. Can we make Santanna’s dream of home ownership come true?

Please help me by donating anything you can afford. Every dollar counts. Thank you so much to everyone that finds it in their hearts to donate to this family who deserves so much more than what they are facing right now.

Please share this with your friends and family and remember, every dollar counts.