Canada Day weekend is always a special one for Alice Marentette. She and her family often spend the holiday at her late brother’s favourite place, what was once a pier overlooking the lake where they grew up.

“He got sick in the spring,” Alice recalls, of her brother, Lachie, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour in May 2015. “That winter, the ice broke off and ruined the pier. It had been such a staple in our lives.”

This year, Alice and her daughter visited the remnants of the pier, and then celebrated Alice’s daughter’s birthday the following day, with Alice’s sister and their 91-year-old mother.

270 tickets to represent the 27 Canadians diagnosed each day

Alice also got the phone call from Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada, informing her that she’d won half the $8,505 jackpot in the Summer 50/50 Ontario Raffle.

“My brother had been on my mind,” Alice says, “so the timing was unbelievable. My mom was beyond overjoyed that I got the call while I was with her, too.”

Alice so kindly offered to donate $1,000 of her winnings back to BTFC to help others who have been touched by a brain tumour, as her family has.

“I’m glad that I could give back,” Alice says. “I bought 270 tickets, because 270 has the number 27 in it.”

Twenty-seven is significant in the brain tumour community, as it represents the 27 Canadians who are diagnosed with a brain tumour each day.

Her brother’s diagnosis

When her brother, Lachie, was diagnosed, Alice recalls being surprised because Lachie was an active and otherwise healthy 54-year-old. He loved to be outdoors, camping and spending time on the lake. The only signs something was off were the headaches Lachie would experience, which were worse in the mornings, and the change in his gait.

“He said, ‘I noticed I’ve been kind of driving crooked, but I thought it was the other drivers,’” Alice recalls.

Lachie went to London Health Science Centre’s University Hospital in London, Ont., which houses a regional stroke unit, because he believed he was having a stroke. It’s there he was asked to hold his arms straight out, while doctors examined him.

“One of his arms went straight out, but the other one went up to the sky,” Alice says. “He thought they were both going straight out. That was a signal, right away, that there was a problem with his brain.”

After a CT scan, Lachie learned he had glioblastoma, an aggressive, malignant brain tumour, in his right temporal lobe.

“It was absolutely cruel and urgent,” Alice says, of her brother’s diagnosis. “His sight eventually diminished. He couldn’t walk, because his muscles atrophied from the medication he was taking. He went downhill fast, right before our eyes.”

Alice remembers one of her last visits with him in the hospital, when Lachie started singing to her.

“I’d never known him to sing,” she says. “That just wasn’t him. And I thought, ‘Wow, he’s singing. What a great day!’”

Sadly, Lachie passed away shortly after, six months and four days following his diagnosis.

“It changes you forever”

“It changes you forever,” she says, of such a significant loss. Her family had already experienced one such loss, after her other brother died suddenly at 49.

“I’m 58, and every day I think I hate being 58, but I’m so grateful because neither of my brothers got to my age.”

In the years since Lachie’s passing, Alice and her family have found meaningful ways to honour his memory and give back to the brain tumour community. They’ve participated in Brain Tumour Walks, held yard sales to raise funds, and even enlisted Alice’s niece, who sold handmade soap with proceeds donated to BTFC.

Now, they’ll come together to celebrate Alice’s raffle winnings, which will be used to treat Alice’s family to a nice dinner.

You’ll soon have a chance to be our next winner, with the Fall 50/50 Ontario Raffle taking place in September 2025. Keep an eye on our social media channels and sign up for our newsletter to be notified when it kicks off.