Donate to help honour our former nanny, Lanie

To our Cherished Family and Friends,

The O’Donoghue and the Fitzmaurice Families are working together on a special Go Fund Me in honour of our former nanny, Lelanie (Lanie) Palisada. Tragically, Lanie passed away far too soon on March 31, 2023 after a sudden battle with pancreatic cancer which was preceded by an earlier battle with uterine cancer in 2013. Lanie worked for our two families over the last 15 years, raising our collective 7 children and managing our households. She was an absolute star and joy to have around. Simply put, Lanie was a force in our lives who worked tirelessly to support us and our children with her gentle, empathetic yet quietly strong ways of getting things done. She treated our children like her own, whether teaching them to read or to craft beautiful treasures or to cook food like world class fried rice and stir fries (that our kids still rave about!) or to offering a friendly nudge to get homework done before going out to play. She was always ready with a camera and a hairbrush at ballet lessons, hockey games, soccer games and school plays capturing any moment that one of us might have had to miss. We are reminded of her beautiful presence in simple things like hearing our daughter quietly singing to herself or watching our kids dice vegetables with the precision of a junior chef. She was an unwavering source of love and guidance to our families, and we want to do something special to honor her life and help her children during their time of need.

Lanie left the Philippines when her youngest daughter Nicole was a toddler. She had a dream of making it to Canada so that her three beloved children Jel, Kevin and Nicole would have more opportunities than she herself had been afforded. On her way to Canada she worked in Hong Kong for two years where the working conditions were lonely and challenging. She courageously persevered and remained determined to get to Canada where she was confident that her dreams for her children would become a reality. During the years they were apart she faithfully sent all her money home to support their care and called and visited as often as possible. She never took her eye off her goal and in 2014 her dreams came true. She was finally able to reunite with her children on Canadian soil! We know that the years since 2014 were by far the happiest of her life. She spent as much time with her children as possible proudly watching them adapt and flourish in their new homeland. We are so happy that she got to see them successfully achieve some key milestones on the way to becoming productive adults: Canadian Citizenship, first dates, first jobs, graduations, marriage and finally becoming parents. Just seeing pictures of Lanie beaming with pride holding her Canadian born grand-daughter brings tears to our eyes.

Lanie’s life ended far too soon and unfortunately neither she nor her children had much time to plan and save enough to support young Nicole’s remaining educational needs. We are writing to humbly ask you to consider joining us in making a donation large or small to a separately managed account to be managed by Denise O’Donoghue as a fiduciary for Nicole who is currently enrolled in her second year at SAIT. She is planning to transfer to the University of Calgary to graduate in Physical Therapy with plans of pursuing her Masters degree.

We are extremely grateful for any support that you can offer during this difficult time.

Denise O’Donoghue & Bruno Richard and Peter & Sarah Fitzmaurice