For Kerry Smulan, the continuing fight against the effects of her Multiple Sclerosis (MS) may have just become easier, thanks to the generous and significant support she has received in her quest to 'liberate' herself from the bondage MS has forced upon her.
Smulan, a resident of Wawota, was the feature of a story run in The Observer about her desire to seek out the new and controversial 'Liberation Treatment' from a private clinic in the Mexican city of Cabo San Lucas.
However, the cost of the procedure was significant ($12,000) and paying for the procedure, MRI scans, follow-up examinations, as well as food and lodging in Cabo San Lucas for the minimum period of seven-days was enough to strain Smulan's budget to the breaking point.
In an effort to help her sister realize her dream, Kimi Lamontagne, also of Wawota, proposed to hold a fundraiser lunch for Smulan in their community.
For the low cost of $7, a visitor would be treated to a soup-and-sandwich lunch complete with a tasty dessert.
Lamontagne, who runs the roadside restaurant 'Kimi's Kafe,' provided the preparation and food at no cost, allowing all proceeds from the luncheon to go to Smulan's treatment fund.
"We didn't take a headcount, but we do have a rough estimate of the number of people who came in for the luncheon," Smulan said. "Kimi had bought 250 styrofoam bowls to use for the soup, and we ended up running out of them towards the end of the lunch."
"We ended up having to use glass bowls from the hall, but we didn't count how many the ladies had to wash up," Smulan said. "But it would be a good estimate to say we had somewhere around 250 people."
"I initially thought we would get an accurate headcount by counting the amount of money that was brought in," Smulan said. "But it turned out that a lot of people would just pay with a $20 [bill] and leave their change behind, so we can't really count that way either."
One would suspect that many people paid for their dinner with a $20, and ignored their change, especially when looking at the numbers.
If there were 250 people, and each paid their $7, then the event would've raised just under $2,000.
Instead, the luncheon raised more than $9,000.
"I'm just at a loss for words," Smulan said of the generous donations. "I was hoping we would receive some support from the community for the surgery, but I never imagined support on this kind of scale."
The efforts to raise the money to help Smulan reach Mexico had become a family affair early on, with Smulan's daughters Rene Lapien-Smulan and Megan Smulan, as well as husband Randy all taking part in the effort.
Lapien-Smulan took charge of creating the posters used to advertise the luncheon.
"I am really just hoping that the procedure will stop the progression [of the disease]," Smulan said. "You hear stories from some people who had the surgery that they actually end up a lot better off then they were before. You can't help but to hope for that kind of success, but I'll just be happy if we can stop the progression."
"It is one of those things where you actually hope for a bad outcome on the testing," Smulan said. "If they find blockages, they can do the procedure. If they don't find any, then they can't. So in this case we're hoping they find some they can work with."
Asked how Smulan feels in the lead-up to the procedure, she expresses no real concern, just an excitement about the possible outcomes.
"I'm not really worried about anything other than the testing," Smulan said. "The doctor has a good record with the surgery, and the thought of feeling better is really leading me onwards."
"I'm more excited than worried by the whole thing," Smulan said. "Besides, I've never been to Mexico this time of year. We usually go in February. So it should be a bit of a treat being down there for a while."
Smulan, who will be accompanied by her husband Randy, will leave from Regina on Sunday, Sept. 19.
She will be returning to home by Sept. 28.
The Observer will report on the outcome of her procedure once she has returned.
