Donate to help the Van Soest Family

Every community has those families that everybody knows. They are the first to volunteer at an event, the first to help out a friend (or stranger) down on their luck. The first to drop off a meal when they know you’re down and out. When tragedy hits *that* family - it’s all the more painful and it is up to the rest of the community to answer the call and lend a helping hand to the family that is normally lending the help.

Wim and Jana Van Soest are well known around town. Wim’s handyman business has helped so many of us with our properties, you’d be hard pressed to find a street he hasn’t done work on a home.

This past Tuesday while working at a job site, Wim was told to consider getting medical attention as one side of his face was drooping. He was being seen at Southlake Hospital within a couple of hours where a 6.5 cm mass was found on his brain. He was immediately sent to Sunnybrook Hospital that night.

The next morning during surgery at Sunnybrook in Toronto, Wim suffered a stroke which has left him paralyzed on the left side of his body. The news gets worse - as the surgeons were unable to remove the mass due to its’ location and having grown around some blood vessels. The outlook is not encouraging at all at this moment.

In that short 24 hours life changed forever for Wim, Jana and their family.

The road ahead for Wim, Jana, and their two children is a hard one. There is a great deal of uncertainty right now about the future, and what it looks like.

What is certain is that Wim will not be able to work. They have lost his income, and as a self employed independant contractor, Wim did not have the same insurance benefits or coverage that could help financially during this devastating time.

While contending with devastating unexpected medical news, Jana and her children shouldn’t also be wondering about how to manage financial stresses of bills, mortgage payments, gas and parking on daily trips to Sunnybrook, and eventual renovations at home to try and make Wim as comfortable as possible.

I am asking you to consider a donation of any size right now. Help the only way we can right now. So that Jana and her family are not trying to cope with the shock and grief of this horrible tragedy that has happened to them while also wondering how to make ends meet.

Give generously….because Jana and Wim sure would. Now it’s our turn.