Students in The Red Deer Ecole Secondaire Notre Dame High School is stepping up to help a classmate battling cancer.
Year 11 student Lachlan Ross was born with a genetic condition, causing him to be non-verbal and have complex medical needs. For the past three years, he has attended Notre Dame’s Foundations program, designed for students with complex needs to gain the skills needed to transition out of high school.
Despite not being able to communicate using his words, Lachlan has gained a reputation as someone with a bubbly personality who loves to laugh.
“He’s a party,” says Lachlan’s teacher, Alison Snow. “He loves to be with people and laugh; he has a great sense of humor. He just brings light.”
But this year, Lachlan hasn’t been at school much. After months of increased pain, difficulty walking and extensive testing at the Alberta Children’s Hospital, Lachlan was diagnosed with undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma, a rare bone cancer. He is facing six months of chemotherapy with surgery in between.
“Hopefully they will be able to save his limbs,” explains his mother, Colette Ross. “If not, he’s going to get an amputation and we’re just hoping that the chemotherapy can really get rid of the cancer.”
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It means even more hospital visits and time away from the classroom he loves so much.
“Watching him go through all these challenges is heartbreaking,” says Ross. “But seeing his smile and him being so strong and brave through it all makes it so much better.”
It’s his smile and courage that inspired his classmates to help the Ross family through this latest hurdle.
Lachlan’s treatment is only available at the Alberta Children’s Hospital in Calgary, meaning the family will make regular trips south. Currently they have to take Lachlan out of his wheelchair and into the car for each drive, a process that is difficult and painful.
They’re hoping to buy a wheelchair-accessible van, but it’s a vehicle that comes with a price tag of up to $100,000. They are looking for a used van but have had to let one go GoFundMe to help cover the cost.
At that time the students of Notre Dame began to act.
“We wanted to get the school involved,” says Addison Bradley, another Notre Dame Grade 11 student. “To show our support for Lachlan, to show that we love Lachlan and we want him to get better.”
With the help of Alison Snow, Bradley and a group of students launched Loonies for Lachlan during the last week of school before the summer holidays. On June 9, students can pay a girl to wear a hat for the day, make hair trinkets, get a face tattoo or buy gum. A few days later, all proceeds from the student-run coffee cart were collected for the Ross family.
In total, $2,000 was raised to help Lachlan get a van.
“Students donated anywhere from a dollar to $20,” says Bradley. “It’s great to see they care so much for Lachlan.”
Snow says it has been touching to see students outside the Foundations Program come to Lachlan’s aid.
“The community has really come together and shown faith in each other,” Snow says.
The Ross family are still searching for the perfect van that they say will change their lives. And as they focus on the road ahead, Lachlan’s community at Notre Dame is excited to welcome him back once he’s ready to return.
“It’s his Grade 12 year next year,” Bradley says. “It’s mine too. I want to go through graduation with it.”
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