A young cancer survivor was given a magical send-off from her Williams Lake community Thursday afternoon.
With snow falling outside, friends and family gathered in the Williams Lake Airport, many clad in Harry Potter costumes, to surprise eight-year-old Lucie Bertoli.
Lucie, who turns nine next week, was overwhelmed with emotion when she walked into the airport with her family to see the gathering.
She was comforted by her mom, Claire, before she started to relax and accept gifts of a handmade wizard wand and a Gryffindor sweater from Jazmyn and Joan Douillard who own The Realm of Toys in Williams Lake.
Joan said her husband, Richard Douillard, made the wand from blood wood and Jazmyn said her fiance made the box for it.
“It doesn’t have metal in the core so she can take it on the plane,” Jazmyn said of the wand.
One of the highlights for Lucie was being handed a boarding pass that bore the insignia of Platform 9 3/4 — a reference from Harry Potter.
“I’m going to Hogwarts,” she said with a smile.
Dressed in a storm trooper costume, Shaye Koldeweihe gave Lucie a light saber.
“A friend asked me to come because she had to work and told me Lucie was also a Star Wars fan,” Koldeweihe said.
Lucie’s oncologist and his team at BC Children’s Hospital made an application to Make A Wish Foundation on her behalf.
“Once she found out she’d been accepted Lucie thought about it and decided she wanted to go to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida,” Claire said. “We found out in November about it and then in December, Lucie had chemo in Vancouver. They did a scavenger hunt for her, gave her a suitcase and she found out she was going.”
Central Mountain Air co-ordinated a send off fit for a wizard.
Carrie Sundahl, lead agent with CMA, said she learned a week ago the family would be flying out of Williams Lake.
“When we found out she was going to be checking out of here first, we thought let’s do something to start her off on her adventure,” Sundahl said. “I reached out to Joan and Jazmyn and asked if they had any ideas and they were great. Jazmyn created a Facebook page and invited people.”
Taylor Made Cakes donated some cupcakes, Laureen Carruthers volunteered to take photographs, and the Douillards were a big help, Sundahl said.
Lucie is the oldest sibling in her family and a student at Cataline elementary.
One of her best friends and classmates, Scarlett Ostrom, used the occasion to wear her Halloween costume, which happened to be the Harry Potter character Hermione.
“I think Lucie is brave,” Scarlett said before Lucie arrived, adding she visited Lucie at Ronald McDonald house in Vancouver while she was there for cancer treatments in 2018.
Scarlett also helped with fundraiser when her “Love for Lucie” lettering was chosen for a T-shirt campaign.
On Jan. 11, 2018 Lucie was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and began treatment immediately at the BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.
Lucie will continue to have treatment until March 2020.
“She’s responding really well,” Claire said. “She has oral treatment every day and at the Williams Lake hospital once a month. Then every three months in Vancouver.”
Lucie’s dad, Ryan, said his daughter lost all of her hair and it began growing back at the end of the summer when the family returned home.
Claire said Lucie lost a ton of weight and was hospitalized a few times for different reactions to the chemotherapy.
“But compared to a lot of kids we’ve met, we’ve been lucky,” she said. “It’s been a really difficult year, but we’ve seen so much good from the community.”
Ryan said the support enabled him to take eight months off his job at the Safeway pharmacy to be in Vancouver.
“There’s been lots of family time so that’s good,” he said.
Read More: Love for Lucie
The Bertolis were overwhelmed by the community support they have received, including a GoFundMe crowdfunder that to date has raised more than $13,000.
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