Community pulls for family in crisis

A family in crisis inspired the community to raise $14,075 through a series of auctions to help support them.

Local photographer Stacey Gabriel kicked off the effort for Shaleena Bola and Garrett Hall, whose family is going through medical hardships.

They are clients whose story she got to know.

“It was amazing,” Gabriel said of local response to the fundraiser. “It was nice to see how Brandon comes together, and I think that’s something really great about our community is that we can help and show that we can help.

“I’m just so happy to live in Brandon.”

The couple have three kids between them, including Brie (4), whom Hall had with a previous relationship, Aria (2) and newcomer Cole, born Jan. 7.

At 18 months of age, Aria’s left eye kept going inward and her sense of balance began worsening. A visit with a Brandon pediatrician resulted in an emergent referral to the Children’s Hospital at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg on Nov. 24, 2020.

On March 18, she finally received a diagnosis of metachromatic leukodystrophy, a rare hereditary brain disease that has already gone to work, slowly paralyzing her body. She has been given two years to live.

Cole has been tested to see whether he inherited this same terminal illness.

Meanwhile, Brie developed a lump on her left cheek just below her ear before Christmas. An ultrasound on Dec. 28 resulted in an emergent referral to a pediatric oncologist at the Children’s Hospital in Winnipeg, where she was later diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare cancer.

She has been receiving aggressive chemotherapy treatment every two weeks and was set to be checked April 14 to determine whether to proceed with radiation or the removal of the left side of her jaw bone.

In a recent update written by the family, they note Aria will need special care and equipment for the rest of her life.

“She is losing lots of things she used to be able to do, and the equipment she needs is very expensive,” they wrote, adding not all of it is funded.

“There is no cure, but there are clinical trials very far away from Manitoba,” they wrote, adding if Cole, who currently displays none of its symptoms, carries the genetic disorder, there’s still a chance.

There’s a gene therapy in Milan, Italy, and other treatments around the world, they note — “unfortunately, nowhere in Canada.”

To help the family, Gabriel initially offered a one-hour photo shoot by auction, for which bidding started at $150 and all proceeds would go toward the family.

The effort snowballed from there, she said, with various businesses piling on with additions to the pot.

Plus, some businesses and individual people opted to top up the effort with direct financial contributions toward the family, amassing a total of $5,300.

Precision Toyota won the auction with a bid of $2,400, and donated the package back to Gabriel to restart the auction for a second round.

The Brandon Flight Centre won it this second time around with a bid of $2,200 and put it up for auction a third time — this time separating the pot up into a dozen separate auctions so it was more accessible to the general public.

So described CEO David Creighton, who said they were excited to pull in an additional $4,075 for the family.

“The whole idea behind our businesses has been supporting other members of the community anyway, so this seemed like a natural fit for something to be involved in,” he said.

Brandon Flight Centre director of finance Samantha Friesen said they heard about the family’s “devastating” story online and they knew from the start it was something they had to do something about.

“We knew we wanted to help,” she said. “It’s not every day you hear a story like this.”

The family offered appreciation in a letter to supporters.

“We are praying for a negative … test for Cole, for Brie to beat cancer and for some sort of treatment for Aria,” the family wrote. “I cannot put into words the tremendous impact all of you have had on our little family — thank you so very very much.”

A GoFundMe campaign set up earlier this year, called “Help Aria get a diagnosis and Brie fight cancer!” has also been raising money for the family, with $28,727 of its $30,000 goal raised as of early last week.

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB