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The Great Keep on Swimming Challenge of 2013!

This year our fundraiser is going to be a bit different and instead of holding one gala we are challenging you to host an event (as large or as small as you like). Your event will be a chance to bring people together to raise money and help to make Ashley’s dream for an end to cancer come true. You will be making a difference and might even inspire someone else to host their own event!

The ideas and possibilities for events are endless: invite people over for a meal, host a beer and burger night, hold a sports tournament, organize a walk or a run, or have a games night. From each event there will be so many stories to share and Ashley would delight in each one.

We will gather in July for a casual event to hear about what people have done and how much money has been raised for this important cause.

Please join our Facebook Group http://www.facebook.com/groups/keeponswimming

Please add your event to our Facebook page or email us your plan at kosgala@gmail.com

Ashley's Story

"Her life is not gone, but broken into colourful pieces that are embedded in each of us, the most breathtaking mosaic imaginable. In a very real way, her life has become ours. And in a very tangible sense, she is reflected in how we speak, how we intereact, how we laugh and how we dance. Alleluia." -Christine

Ashley Anne Brear, passed away April 22, 2006 after a long battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma. A YWCA Young Woman of Distinction, a Vancouver Sun Everyday Saint and an inspiration to hundreds of people, Ashley used her journey with cancer as an opportunity to touch countless lives. During her heroic, 3-year battle with cancer, Ashley raised over $80,000 for the BC Cancer Foundation through her Keep on Swimming Gala Fundraiser in August of 2004 and other 'spin-off' events to realize her dream of a world free from cancer.

We wish to continue to support the BC Cancer Foundation as it was a significant ally in Ashley's battle. During her numerous and grueling treatments, Ashley inspired so many other cancer patients to fight this disease with humour, a smile, gratitude and grace, all the while raising money for the BC Cancer Foundation. Even in the agonizing moments associated with her cancer and with each relapse of the disease, Ashley remained hopeful until the very end of her most
poignant life.

Ashley's dream of a world free from cancer is not soon to be forgotten. For all that she was, for all that she accomplished in her all too brief 22 years and for everyone she has inspired, Ashley Brear was undeniably a hero. Please help us to realize her dream by donating to Keep on Swimming For more information please visit our website http://www.keeponswimming.org or send us an email kosgala@gmail.com.

Yours in Hope,

Heidi (Ashley's sister)