Praise for the story

      Al and I were in Wynyard last Saturday night for the Prairie Women On Snowmobiles’ Shades of Pink fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society. We had a lot of fun and made some new friends. I was invited to be the guest speaker, sharing information on the Never Leave Your Wingman book I wrote about seven-time cancer survivor Dionne Warner and her supportive, fun-loving husband Graham. Dionne was away, sitting on a warm beach in Los Cabos, during a break from her chemo treatments or she would have been there to speak in person about her story of hope. So I was honoured to fill in for her.
      I received many compliments about my speech afterwards. One of the best compliments came when I told a woman, “I hope you enjoy the book,” and she replied: “I will enjoy it. If your writing is like your speaking, I am sure it will be very good.”


Other things that happened there:

-        As we walked in, a teenage girl asked me, “Would like a lei?” It made me smile, but I was a little puzzled when Al was not given the same offer. (He was one of only six men in a roomful of 200 women, so it kind of made sense but still...) Later in the evening, Sheila Doidge Campbell, (who had invited me based on meeting Dionne and Graham and Al and me at the town's Swim For Life fundraising event in July) asked Al why he didn’t have a lei. Al replied that he didn’t think a 13-year-old girl would be very comfortable asking him if he 'wanted a lei,' nor would he have been in accepting said offer. So Sheila gave Al one lei for himself and another for me... and joked about how she had lei'd him and all the other men there that night (Prairie humour - we thought it was very funny!) When Al told her that I already had a lei, she told him to keep the extra one… so here we are - after getting lei'd in Wynyard...

 I got lei’d once at the event and then that Al got lei’d twice.

At least I thought it was funny.

-         A woman came into the event happily holding up her copy of Never Leave Your Wingman, ready for me to sign it. Her 49-year-old brother had died of lung cancer in May only five months after diagnosis. He had never smoked a day in his life. It was sad. She said she was so glad when she found out I would be there so I could sign her copy. “It was an incredible book. I couldn’t put it down. I read it over and over, then picked it up and read parts of it again. Very inspiring. I’m so glad that the two of you (Dionne and I) got together. It’s so much inspiration for so many people.” She had also read the Never Give Up book I wrote about Ted Jaleta. “It’s very good.”

-         A woman who had purchased  a copy of Wingman at the Swim For Life there in July said she had read it in one day. “I don’t read very much but I couldn’t put it down.”

-        As we were leaving to head back to Regina that night, Sheila and I exchanged hugs and agreed to keep in touch. Then she added, “And you tell that Dionne girl to keep fighting!”

Absolutely. Dionne and all of her Angel Network of supporters wouldn't have it any other way.

Thank you, ladies of Wynyard and area! It was a great event and I'm sure we'll see you again.