Christmas float fundraiser honours Moncton woman who died of ovarian cancer

UPDATE: The Moncton Christmas parade was cancelled due to poor weather. It will not be rescheduled. The original story follows below. 

The Moncton Christmas parade will feature a familiar float this weekend.

But this time, it has a special story behind it.

The staple Christmas tree float will be wrapped in a banner that reads "Lynn's Lights," with each light on the tree representing a donation in honour of Lynn Whalen, who died of ovarian cancer in 2021.

"When I told the kids my idea back in the summer, they said, 'Dad, we're 100 per cent with it,'" said Lynn's husband, Bill Whalen.

"Their mom was everything to them."

The idea behind the float is that people can buy a light for $25 or a string of lights for $1,000. The money raised will go into an endowment fund in Lynn's memory.

Bill said when Lynn was sick, he told her he wanted to create an endowment fund in her honour through the Friends Foundation — the philanthropic arm of the Moncton Hospital. He asked her where she wanted the money to go — thinking she might say radiology, where she worked for many years as an X-ray technician, or maybe oncology because of her cancer.

Lynn asked to think about it overnight, he said, and the next day decided she wanted it to go to the obstetrics and newborn unit at the hospital — which, starting in January, will be housed in a brand new facility equipped with cutting-edge technology.

Bill's original goal was to create an endowment of $100,000, which he reached this year. But after talking to the people at the hospital, he realized the need was much greater.

That's where the idea for Lynn's Lights was born. Now, his goal is to raise $50,000 each year for five years to top up the endowment, which is used to help families pay for small expenses such as special medications, transportation or support during long hospital stays. 

Katherine Robertson with the Friends Foundation said the greatest single motivator in fundraising is an emotional connection.

She watched videos online of Bill and Lynn's daughters talking about their mom and it brought tears to her eyes.

"Their depth of love and admiration and appreciation of their mom is palpable when you watch those videos and listen to them," she said.

"You don't have to know Lynn, but everybody knows a Lynn or wishes that they did."

Bill remembers her for many things, from being his biggest supporter to being the best mom.

"I remember when she was sick, people would still come to our house to get a Lynn pep talk, you know, to be encouraged, to be motivated, to be to be comforted — and that was her role in life."

Looking at the loud and colourful tree float, Bill joked that Lynn would hate it because she was a very "behind the scenes" type of person.

But, he said, she would love that the money was going to help so many moms and their babies.

"We're not all as lucky as Lynn and I were to be able to give our kids, you know, a lot of the things that they wanted, or have the things that you need when you have a child," said Bill.

"So the fact that she picked this, and the fact that it's going to help so many, she would absolutely love."