Phil Alain is keeping the memory of his wife alive by providing a home away from home to cancer patients who must travel long distances for treatment.
Amy Alain died of lung cancer Feb. 22, leaving her husband alone to care for their two young children.
Amy’s House, named in her honour, will serve as an affordable home for families who have to travel 100 kilometres or more to Edmonton for cancer treatments or any other serious illness.
The home opened officially on Saturday, what would have been Amy’s 39th birthday.
“She did everything she could to raise awareness for lung cancer,” Phil told CBC Radio’s Edmonton AM.
“We are just trying to keep her memory alive by doing things that she wanted to do to help others.
“My kids are seven and nine and I just don’t want them to forget their mom, so you just do everything you can to keep that memory alive.”
‘It shocked us all’
Amy, a fitness instructor and ultra-marathoner, began to feel off last spring. She had a nagging dry cough, a relentless headache and felt tired all the time. Doctors diagnosed her with stage 3B inoperable lung cancer.
A large tumour in her chest was blocking her airway and pressing into her heart.
“It shocked us all,” Phil said. “But she had the personality where she immediately turned the negative of what she was dealing with into a positive by helping other people.”
Amy became an advocate for lung cancer awareness, speaking publicly about the disease and launching Lunges for Lung Cancer, a campaign encouraging participants to complete 58 lunges daily, honouring the Canadians who die every day from the disease.
The Canadian Cancer Society estimates that 21,000 Canadians will die from lung cancer in 2019.
Amy’s treatments included intensive chemotherapy and radiation, and more than a year of immunotherapy treatments at the Cross Cancer Institute.
“When we were going to the Cross Cancer, Amy was such an outgoing person that she would always be talking to other patients,” Phil said.
“And we discovered, as we were sitting there, how many people would be driving in two to three hours daily for radiation treatments.
“So here they are, sick from cancer, and being made to feel sicker from the treatments, having to drive back and forth every day. You could just see the toll it was taking.
“She always said when she beat her cancer she was going to start up a place for people like that.”
‘Unbelievable experience’
When Amy died, Phil channelled his grief into fulfilling her final wish.
Four months ago, he founded Amy’s House Foundation, bought the rental house where they used to live, and began renovations.
“It’s been such an unbelievable experience,” he said. “People have just been pouring in, volunteering their time, making donations.
“In a very short time we were able to transform this 60-year-old house into a very comfortable living space.
“You have the sadness that you feel over the loss but the feeling you have from the support is unbelievable.”
A sold-out fundraising event is being held tonight in support of the Amy’s House Foundation. There is also an online fundraising auction through the foundation’s Facebook page.