Enliven Muskoka provides plenty of support for those living with Cancer and their loved ones

Cancer has, had, or will have an impact in one way or another on every person in the community – regardless of financial or social standing.

The number-one killer of Canadians is indiscriminate as it leaves its mark physically, emotionally, and mentally on the person fighting the disease and their loved ones.

Whether it’s the individual living with a diagnosis, their partner, their family, their friends, their co-workers, or anyone who knows the person, there are very real ripples felt.

The good news is that there is community support available through Enliven Cancer Care Muskoka to help both those living with Cancer and their families cope – even thrive – during the process.

Enliven Cancer Care Muskoka is a charitable organization that is 100 percent funded by philanthropy. They provide their services at no cost to the participants through volunteer hours, generous donations, grants, and fundraising ventures.

One such influx of funding came earlier this year from Hydro One’s Healthy Communities grant program. Enliven Muskoka was awarded $25,000 towards their Integrated Movement Matters program for those living with a diagnosis – regardless of when that diagnosis occurred.

“We offer this program of yoga, fitness and NIA (non-impact aerobics),” explains David McLean, chair of the fund development committee. “We offer it in twelve-week blocks in both Huntsville and Bracebridge … this program alone has impacted hundreds of lives.”

David’s late wife Joanne and her friend, Huntsville Yogi Allie Chisholm-Smith, founded Enliven Cancer Care Muskoka several years ago.

The idea was to help people in the community to be able to do as many “normal,” pre-diagnosis things as possible is one way to help feel supported and not alone in the fight.

As well, they wanted to ensure there were programs geared towards family members of those diagnosed with Cancer is vital to their emotional and mental strength.

“Joanne passed away five years ago,” says McLean. “Her legacy is very much alive, and she would be very excited about how Enliven has grown through the years and the impact it’s having.”

For Enliven Muskoka’s fund development manager Andrea Johnston, it is very important that families know they provide programs for them too. Her husband received a Cancer diagnosis last fall and while they were looking for programs, Enliven Muskoka kept showing up on their radar.

“My misconception was that all these amazing offerings were solely for the person who had received the diagnosis,” says Johnston. “Cancer derails everyone in that person’s circle and I was definitely derailed. I was encouraged for my own health and well being, to combat that social isolation that comes with a diagnosis, to look at the programming. It became invaluable to me to combat that loneliness and isolation.”

She adds: “Speaking with people who had already gone through some of the processes that we were going to go through was amazing to me just to have that shared experience. IT was nice to have some to lean on.”

In the beginning . . .

“My wife and I moved here full time in 2013 and built our dreamhouse on Fairy Lake,” recalls McLean. “Basically, we’re set to cocreate a life together up here. A few months after we moved up, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She continued to work and participate in the community and be very engaged for the next few years.”

But her circle of friends in the community started to approach her with kid gloves and thought she was going to break because she had this diagnosis. This left Joanne feeling isolated and feeling that she was being seen as different than who she felt she was.

“She saw herself as intelligent and engaging and funny and articulate and wanted to give back to her community and be fully engaged with the community and didn’t feel that was possible,” explains McLean. “Of course, she needed to manage her fight with Cancer through treatments. She also spent time learning as much as possible about the disease she was living with but also resources that could help her be more fully engaged in the community.”

While searching up programs and resources to help both herself and others living with Cancer, Joanne found that most of those resources were in Toronto, but none were willing to start up or relocate their services to Muskoka.

“Being one to not take no for an answer, she along with Allie Chisholm Smith created Enliven Cancer Care Muskoka,” says McLean. “In the early days, the intent was to provide information about resources to help people navigate living with Cancer. But, also to provide programs to help the person with a diagnosis or their caregivers, their family members and loved ones.”

Those programs look differently for everyone, it’s about what feeds your soul. For some people that’s going to Yoga classes or dance classes or exercises. For others it could be going bird watching or art classes or writing or journaling.

“Over the years, Enliven has worked with a phenomenal group of instructors who are specially trained to work with those living with a Cancer diagnosis,” explains McLean.

Ballroom Blitz Fundraiser

The Enliven Cancer Care Muskoka Ballroom Blitz Art Walk and auction fundraiser takes place on August 20^th beginning at 2 p.m. at the Grandview Golf Club.

It will feature the works of over 40 talented artists that have been donated to be part of both a live auction and silent auction. Meanwhile, Sean Cotton will be providing live music for the event.

Artwork being auctioned at the fundraiser includes painting, oils, pastels, wood turning, pottery, blankets, jewellery, and more.

“The artistic community in Huntsville and Muskoka is overwhelming both from the perspective of the different types of art that are created, the quality, and the generosity of these artists is just amazing,” says McLean. “For a fundraiser like this, that’s paramount to us. A multitude of expressions of art and it’s all beautiful.”

Johnston adds: “We’re going to have mimosas and hors d’oeuvres. We’re really excited to host this fundraising event.”

Learn more about Enliven Muskoka or buy tickets the Ballroom Blitz at https://www.enlivenmuskoka.ca/. Also, check out our audio interview about Enliven and the event at: Ballroom Blitz

Also, keep an eye out for more stories about Enliven Muskoka on this website and an ear out for The Chris O Show chat about Enliven Muskoka on The Bay 88.7 FM.