Small businesses around the city are rallying around Ottawa resident Jenny Chen and her family after their personal journey with cancer. Chen’s partner Dan was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer in 2020 and started chemotherapy immediately. Chen says local businesses became a safe space for the two of them to enjoy date nights and have two hours where the disease was not taking over their lives. Chen was Dan’s caregiver when he was diagnosed. “We were each other’s social bubble in COVID. I took him to all of his appointments, his chemo treatments and preparing all the meals and getting him fit for chemo was something that I had to Google and figure out on my own and build up his immune system,” Chen says. “Halfway through I was just like, ‘I love this human being so much and I can’t see my life without him.’” Chen decided to propose to Dan in September 2020 before he went into remission in December 2020. Now, Chen is using their personal journey to support the Ottawa Cancer Foundation with a fundraiser event. “The Ottawa Cancer Foundation reached out to me in November of last year and asked me to participate as a “Joe” for ‘Laugh for the Cure’ - one of their bigger fundraisers of the year. I’ve never done stand up comedy before, I was like, ‘how hard could it be?’” Chen says. Chen says through her and Dan’s experience, she learned that the Ottawa Cancer Foundation does much for community members and caregivers. “The Cancer Foundation provides local cancer care support and it stays in Ottawa. Having these local businesses involved as well just really ties into that feeling of community and joy and that connectedness and that no one needs to face cancer alone,” says Tricia Ross, director of events and community engagement with The Ottawa Cancer Foundation. “She’s just really turned this participation into a movement, including all of these local businesses and really doubling down on that like local care initiative,” Ross adds. Ottawa small businesses have stepped in to help raise funds for cancer care, choosing the couple’s favorite bites from their menus and donating the proceeds from those items to the Ottawa Cancer Foundation. The fundraiser has Chen’s original goal of $10,000 and has now raised more than $22,000. As the couple says, the small businesses “unknowingly carried them through one of the hardest seasons of their lives.” “When my husband was going through chemo, he wasn’t someone that would lay in bed and sit around and feel better. He wanted to feel normal. Even two hours a day, he would look forward to date nights out,” says Chen, “Partially to get two hours where cancer wasn’t taking over our lives.” Restaurants, cafés and independent owners such as Stay Gold Pizza, Fratelli Kanata, Vietnamese Pho House, La Bottega Nicastro, Sussex & Co., Dao Café, Bar Ocelli have all stepped up to help. Simon Huang, co-owner of Dao Café, says when Chen asked for his café to be a part of the fundraiser, he couldn’t say no. “My mom was a breast cancer survivor. Now, she’s in her breast cancer is in remission. I remember how tough it was going through that time. Not just for her, but from a family perspective. When she asks us to help support her, the cancer fund to support the Ottawa Cancer Foundation, absolutely no questions asked,” says Huang. “The goal is really to raise awareness and show our community that there are these resources available, that are so important,” says Chen. “I’d love to get to a world where cancer doesn’t exist anymore but until then, the very least we can do is make sure that nobody feels alone while going through that,” says Chen. Dan’s cancer is incurable. He gets checked every six months. “Hope and joy is a social activity and sometimes laughter and joy is the best way to help push us through. It definitely was in our time of need,” says Chen. The Ottawa Cancer Foundation ‘Laugh for the Cure’ comedy show happening on March 26 at The Westin Ottawa. For more information, visit the Ottawa Cancer Foundation’s web page. “This particular initiative is focused on joy and that you can feel two things at once. You know, you can feel sad and angry and frustrated and grieving, grieving a lost one or even grieving the person that you used to be before you had cancer but there are moments of joy, and many people who walk through our doors at the Ottawa Cancer Foundation really feel those connections of joy,” Ross says. “That really is the experience that people have and we want to share that with as many people as possible.” More to come.
