Erica Heyligers Health Fund

Erica Heyligers has long been an integral part of the community of Whitehorse. Since 1990 she has run her business ‘Woodshine Finishing’ offering services of furniture restoration and since 1994 repairing musical instruments.

In May 2017 she was diagnosed with ALS. This is a devastating disease and there is no cure. Erica took to alternative methods of healing but it is still slowly creeping up on her. Her mobility has been compromised and so are her hands. Therefore, she has not been working since the diagnoses. She really misses her customers!

Just recently she was also diagnosed with rectal cancer; another bump in the road. In November and December she will be going down to Vancouver for several weeks for a treatment of chemo and radiation. Then in February she will be going down for surgery to remove the tumor and will have to stay there for a while. Erica needs a caregiver with her and so the family members will be taking turns living with her while in Vancouver, necessitating a lot of travel and being away from home. Once her condition permits, Erica plans to enter into some additional complementary therapies such as Vitamin C infusion therapy, and hyperbaric therapy.

While she is grateful for the support that the Canadian and Yukon medical systems provide financially, there are still a number of costs that are non-insured and so there is a burden on the family financially.

The plan is to use any funds raised for medical and associated costs; and any surplus funds, should there be any, will be donated to ALS and Cancer research.

The beneficiary is Erica's husband and Selina's stepdad Marc Paradis who will withdraw the donations and put the money directly towards Erica's expenses.