| Written by Sara Loftson, The Catholic Register,
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 Former Denis Morris Catholic Secondary School chaplain Suzanne Aucoin
Ms. Aucoin, 37, died at around 3 a.m. on Nov. 11 at Hospice Niagara’s palliative care centre in St. Catharines.
“I will remember her for her strength and determination and righting the wrongs in the world,” said 22-year-old Deanna Hunt, a Denis Morris graduate who remained close friends with Ms. Aucoin.
Aucoin became a household name in the Niagara Region and beyond for lobbying the provincial government to pay for her out-of-country medical costs. The Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) refused to pay for her cancer drug Erbitux, which is not commercially available in Ontario. Eventually she struck an agreement with OHIP to pay for the drug at Buffalo, N.Y.’s Roswell Park Cancer Institute. But by that time she had wracked up a bill for more than $52,000.
After an unsuccessful attempt to get OHIP to reimburse her, Ontario ombudsman Andre Marin investigated her case and ruled in her favour. The ombudsman recommended that the health ministry pay Ms. Aucoin approximately $76,000 for her drug treatment costs, plus legal fees. He also called for an overhaul of its out-of-country health benefits program.
With the help of family, friends and Denis Morris students and staff among others Ms. Aucoin raised $180,000 for her drug treatment.
Although Ms. Aucoin left her job in 2003 for health reasons she remained an active part of the school until last spring. The students and staff supported a variety of fund-raising events, including selling $2 bracelets to students, and a collection was taken at two separate parent-teacher nights while raising awareness about her cause for access to cancer drugs.
Two weeks before she died staff donated money so Ms. Aucoin could realize her wish to take a helicopter ride over Niagara Falls.
The staff who had worked with Ms. Aucoin over the years were particularly affected by her death.
“It was a very difficult day at work for us. There was lots of crying and hugging and we were very lucky to have an administration that allowed that to happen,” said Louann Petroff, a guidance counsellor at Denis Morris who knew Ms. Aucoin for eight years.
Today, few students at the school knew Ms. Aucoin personally since she’s been gone for some years, with the exception of Grade 12 student Stacy Hunt, who knew Ms. Aucoin well through her sister Deanna.
“It was definitely saddening, it was tough. I saw her from when she was first diagnosed and then through all the stages,” said Hunt.
Hunt said her faith strengthened her during this time.
“It really helped me understand everything at the end of the day — not so much why God chose her (to die), but that God chose her to be an inspiration to everyone else in a positive way, not a negative way.”
Her sister had mixed reactions.
“It shook my faith, I asked a lot of questions,” said Deanna Hunt. “I was really confused because she was such a good person and I knew she didn’t deserve what she was being handed. But it also made my faith stronger, just seeing her faith throughout her struggle and that she still had a faith life throughout her struggle.”
Others who knew Ms. Aucoin or just strangers who had been following her story joined a Facebook group called In Loving Memory of Suzanne Aucoin to publicly mourn and celebrate her life.
“I didn’t expect this many people to join,” said Bailey Hall, 23, a 2001 Denis Morris grad who started the group which has more than 900 members.
“I just wanted a place where people could express their stories about Suzanne. Almost like a meeting ground (where) everyone understood one another and just to have a group like this for her would make it feel like we were all family.”
Hall remembers how Ms. Aucoin helped her transition to Denis Morris at a time when she didn’t have friends. She credits Aucoin for the lobbying the government on behalf of all cancer patients.
“That’s probably one of the strongest things I’ve ever seen a woman do,” she said.
“I’ve always believed that God always takes the great ones first.... God has a reason for why He took them. It’s for something much greater than what was happening on Earth.”
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Sara Loftson, The Catholic Register |
| About the author: |
| Sara Loftson is a freelance writer based in Calgary, Alberta. She holds a bachelor of arts from the University of Winnipeg and a bachelor of journalism from the University of King's College in Halifax. She has written for The Catholic Register, worked for CBC Radio and her work has appeared in Catholic newspapers across Canada. |
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