My Angel - Claudette Ducharme
Friday, April 19, 2013
By: Melissa Wilson

My Angel - Claudette Ducharme

A promise to Claudette!

My mom was my best friend, and she is now my guardian angel. She lost her fight to pancreatic cancer on April 9th, 2005. She had been experiencing the symptoms for some time, however there were no signs of anything on the ultrasounds. After the results of other scans came in a few months later, she was diagnosed on July 3rd, 2003 as having terminal, stage 4 pancreatic cancer. I was with her in the doctor's office when she was diagnosed and the look on her face still haunts me to this day. One thing I can still hear her saying is "I'm not ready to leave my family".

She was only 55 when she passed away just a few months short of her 56th birthday. She was born June 10th, 1949 in the small town of Mattawa, Ontario. She moved to Ottawa in her late teens and soon after began her career as an Operating room nurse in the early 1970's at the Ottawa General Hospital. She spent most of her years in the OR, however after experiencing an injury to her back, she began to work in Module G, the Aids and Infectious disease Clinic.

When she was diagnosed, she was given 6 months to live, however she managed to fight the fight for 22 months and was a miracle to the doctors who determined that her will to live was extremely strong. Since I was only 21 when she passed away, she would often say, "I wish I was here long enough to see you go to university". She never had the opportunity to see me go on to university on this earth, but she sure walked me through it as my angel. I continued on as she would have wanted me to and I did it all for her! My goal in life is to continue to make her proud!

It's hard to believe that it's been 8 years. Not one day goes by where I don't think about her. Throughout the path of my life since I lost her, she has guided me in the directions that I needed to go in life and walked along side me every step of the way. She has done this by being in my thoughts, memories and through my family, my friends and my husband who all continue to be amazing in my life. This is especially in loving memory of her who has continued to make a lasting impression on me and all those who knew her well. She was one heck of a lady and I'm truly fortunate to have had her with me the time that I did. Claudette Ducharme may you continue to be my guardian angel. Love you xoxo