Carlos Alberto Lopes Ferreira: Celebration of Life- Memorial

Dear Family and Friends

In November of 2023, Carlos was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He underwent 5 months of a chemotherapy clinical trial which ended up not helping anymore. After a month break, he started a new treatment of chemo. After 3 rounds, the doctors announced that it was not helping stabilize the cancer. It was having strong effects on my father's body, so he decided to stop the treatments. On August 26th, we had Dr. Murielle Croulard come to the house to explain the following palliative care plans he could follow. Papa decided to choose quality of life and taking help for comfort at home. He can still talk, walk and eat, but his energy level is diminishing quickly. The doctor announced that he might have between 3 weeks to 3 months of life on earth remaining with his loved ones. My dad will be staying home to be with family until he cannot eat anymore where he will take his last breaths at a palliative care facility nearby.

Carlos's Life and Mission

Born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, our papa shared his mothers faith in God. At the young age of 17, he joined the Unification Church where he devoted the following 21 years to fundraising, witnessing, missionary work, and building a family. He had the opportunity to live in the north of Brazil, Suriname, USA and, Russia where he was a leader, teacher, and guided church members to live a life of faith, peace, love, family and intention. Not only did he care for strangers, but he made sure to be present for our mother and us 4 kids. After 6 years living in Russia, our parents moved to Canada to continue their alternative life of faith. They intentionally bought a big house so that they could keep their mission of helping families by having rooms for them to stay in. After raising 4 children, papa and mama opened their doors to welcome over 25 youth in foster care. Even while battling cancer, both continue their generosity with the care of 3 wonderful foster youth.

Family and Community

Carlos' parents:

Maria Lopes Donascimento (20/08/41-10/09/23) &

Alfredo Ferreira (07/05/29-24/07/17)

Sibling:

Ana Paula Ferreira (Luis), Giovanna Freitas (niece)

Spouse:

Suzanne Claveau

Children:

Young Ho Claveau-Ferreira (Issa Bourassa Choquette)

Alexandre Claveau-Ferreira (Kristen Vanderwee)

Carla Claveau-Ferreira (Kensho Kaneko & Tristan Fyfe)

Bernard Claveau-Ferreira (Kaoli Aono)

& father figure to many foster youth <3

In addition, there have been many family members from my mother's side who have impacted his life: Marie-Paule, Fernand, Denis, Sylvie, Robert, Nicole, Francois, Diane, Chantale, Myriam, Maxime, Marie-Eve, Nicola, Seraphina, Leo, Jeanne, Jonathan, Thomas

Our dad is a big family man! He did everything with our mother, Suzanne. From doing missionary work, to selling Russian dolls, raising foster kids, and even to the point of getting cancer together :P He raised us while being a true feminist! While moving back to Canada, he chose to support mama by staying home to cook, clean, do administrative work, and to be present for when we came back from school. Although unconventional for his time and him being conservative, papa knows how to stand outside of the box to love the ones around him and offer them a better future. Calm in nature, he made sure to listen and observe everything around him. This allowed him to support his community members by offering his reassurance, listening, advice and non-judgmental spirit.

How to Support:

As a family, we are doing a lot of the day to day chores. As he is the one that has been taking care of the administrative work at home, our mother is a bit overwhelmed by the following months to come. We have set up this Gofundme to help with funeral expenses and for my siblings and I to take a bit of time off of work to be together. Here is a breakdown of what the costs will cover:

*Funeral Home Services: Facility, reception, staff

*Food

*Urn

*Additional Costs: Flowers, massages, cleaning

Other ways to Support:

From us to you, we send love <3

-Carla and the rest of the family!