She gives back despite illness: a young mother plans to distribute gifts to children in need

Several months after starting a fundraiser to offer treatment for the illness she suffers from, a mother from Sainte-Julienne plans to give around a hundred gifts to children in her community between now and New Year’s Day.

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“It allows me to keep busy, to meet people, but also it makes me feel good to give back to those around me. I feel useful,” Stéphanie Panneton admits with emotion.

Last August, The newspaper spoke with the 31-year-old woman as she began collecting cans to afford a hyperbaric chamber. This technology, which provides a maximum level of oxygen, was expected to help reduce symptoms caused by multiple sclerosis and trigeminal neuralgia, a condition that causes throbbing head pain and severe seizures.

Today, the health of the single mother is still very fragile, but she still wants to take advantage of the holiday season to spread joy to those around her.

“We made Christmas baskets for new parents, we have lots of toys, we want to give around a hundred gifts to families in need […] “it’s a way of thanking people for their donations,” she adds.

Soft toys, clothes, balloons, all kinds of things are included in the gifts, some of which were already given to children in Sainte-Justine last week.

Donations still needed

Although she gives back, Stéphanie Panneton continues to collect donations to help pay for her treatments. However, she can no longer use the hyperbaric chamber she rented because she underwent emergency eye surgery in early December.

“I had a major seizure which is now radiating to my eye and I had to have minor reconstruction of the inside of my eye […] so, for the moment, I cannot use the machine,” she laments.

The mother of little Luka, 5 years old, is trying every solution to improve his health, but so far, nothing is working. The next step will be botox infiltrations which act on the nerves to reduce pain.

“These days it’s difficult, I always hope that a treatment will work […] Despite everything, life is worth living,” she concludes, positively.