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Mother Never Stops Fighting 

Karen had just celebrated her son’s 21st birthday—nine days later, she was preparing for his funeral. Her son was struck by an impaired driver while crossing the street. He was on life support before he died in hospital two days later. Karen made the powerful decision to donate his organs to save another life. She continued to work and care for her 3 other children.  

Since the death of her son, she has played a significant role with MADD to prevent the needless death of other victims from impaired drivers. “This is the most devastating thing our family has had to endure and the pain never goes away.” Over the last 10 years, Karen has shown vulnerability and shares her story with the hope that it prevents another needless death, she has been advocating for impaired driving prevention since her son’s death. She also sits on the Community Alcohol Strategy Steering Committee, which aims to help the city’s residents develop a better relationship with alcohol. 

Through the devastation and loss, she has found the courage to keep fighting, in her son’s memory. She is an amazing woman.

Mother Never Stops Fighting 

Karen had just celebrated her son’s 21st birthday—nine days later, she was preparing for his funeral. Her son was struck by an impaired driver while crossing the street. He was on life support before he died in hospital two days later. Karen made the powerful decision to donate his organs to save another life. She continued to work and care for her 3 other children.  

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My Mother has always been a key role model in my life; she has always had a large impact on me and on my outlook on life. She has taught me that a positive mindset is the greatest tool in life. It is one thing to be in a positive state of mind when things are going well, but it is another to stay positive during tough times. When you can be kind and love yourself, you will be able to share the wealth of kindness to others. This is the blueprint you need to overcome the dark hours.
In my mother’s life she has truly had to overcome obstacles. In her early 20’s she lost both her parents to cancer. During this time, she had to be the caregiver to her younger siblings and work multiple jobs to help provide for her family. Still to this day, her siblings look to her as the matriarch of the family. She took on the mother figure role before having a family of her own.
After pausing her secondary education to care for her sick mother, she decided to return to school while being pregnant and raising young children. It was her resilience, drive and determination that allowed her to complete her university education while being a new mom. My mom decided to stay home with my siblings and I, providing us a home with warmth and love. My mom was able to participate on school trips and help with endless homework from three children that were all two years apart. She made the choice to stay home, pause her own self aspirations to give us mentorship and caregiving. Amazingly during this time, my mom also started her own nutrition counselling business, providing assistance to her clients in our basement while we were at school and taking clients on at a private clinic. Somehow, she was able to be an entrepreneur, caregiver, mother, sister, wife, and friend, and was able to always put her best foot forward.
My mom’s devotion to personal growth, life-long learning and education never wavered. She became a night school teacher at Centennial College when we were in elementary school. Through hard work and dedication, she went on to full-time teaching, program coordinator, Chair of the Health and Science Department, and finally to the acting Dean of the College. Her journey has been an amazing one of hard work and determination. She has accomplished so much on her own merit, never asking for accolades. She always put her family first, and for that we are so grateful. The role of mother while balancing a full-time career is nothing short of amazing. She is now retired but her work is not done. She is presently working towards her PhD, while continuing to be an amazing mother and grandmother. The strength of my mother, truly a strong woman, is remarkable.

My Mother has always been a key role model in my life; she has always had a large impact on me and on my outlook on life. She has taught me that a positive mindset is the greatest tool in life. It is one thing to be in a positive state of mind when things are going well, but it is another to stay positive during tough times. Continue reading

By Kathy

“Courage doesn’t always roar,” it doesn’t always require a sword and a fearless heroine. My courage came as a quiet voice inside, giving me strength to continue and move forward despite the fact that I was terrified and alone. I was a young lady when my mother went into palliative care. My mother had always been my beacon of strength, she commanded respect, she was brilliant, and I always looked up to her for guidance.

With her declining health our roles suddenly reversed. I needed to become her rock, fight back my own tears and fears of the unknown future, and give her peace of mind and comfort.

For three months I had the opportunity to feed her, bathe her, hold her hand and tell her it will be okay. I never let her see me cry, she had enough to deal with. I was the happy smiley face that sat by her side and would sing her to sleep. I’d cry once I’d leave the hospital, not sure if I could face another day, but sure enough once the sun would rise, I’d find the courage I needed to smile for her again.

Not everyone has the opportunity to parent their parent, I’m grateful I had the time with her. I’m not fearless like my mother was, I’m the type of person that cries at Bell commercials when the kids go off to school. I was always the emotional one that my mother would carry, I admire her strength and never would’ve guessed I’d find it within myself.

I am beyond proud of our final days; they were days that had nothing to do with the way I was feeling, but instead about giving my mother back a small amount of everything she had done for me. Sometimes, all we need to do is muscle up the courage for the next 20 minutes! Just 20 minutes at a time! Step by step and keep moving forward.

“Courage doesn’t always roar,” it doesn’t always require a sword and a fearless heroine. My courage came as a quiet voice inside, giving me strength to continue and move forward despite the fact that I was terrified and alone.  Continue reading

By Tanya

One thing that has always been my foundation is positive energy. I am a guardian of this power as it is something that needs to be spread like wildfire. Ive learned that you need to be conscious of overpowering those negative forces and energy that is cast out by others. The greatest enemy to positive energy is our own thoughts, and self-doubt. I am very guilty of doubting my own value, and yet, I have a different lens when looking at others and their incredible gifts.

I’m learning that we have to use that same lens we use for others, and push ourselves to look through it at ourselves. We cannot allow our own self-doubt to cloud our vision of ourselves. With each setback or disappointment, or perhaps a meeting that goes wrong, we use these experiences to make ourselves believe we are not enough.

I’m still learning. I’m still pushing myself to know that I am enough. That I offer unique value. These are the affirmations I use now as self-talk when my gremlins creep in. I wouldn’t be able to do this if I didn’t go back to the words that those closest have shared with me to remind me of my light—through their lens of me.

We must continue to share our gratitude and admiration for others whenever we see it. By spreading genuine positive energy, sharing positive feedback or even just giving a compliment to another—we can allow others to rise up and feel their own self-worth. So let’s continue to lift each other up—and at the same time, be kind to ourselves.

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By Allie

Hello! This is my little story of the incredible women in my life:

When thinking of a woman I admire, two came to my mind; my grandmother and my mother. Growing up, I always admired my grandma for how positive and happy she was at all times. No matter what was going on, she always found a way to make me laugh and smile. Later in life, I came to learn of the many struggles she went through in her life, such as the death of her husband at a young age and therefore having to raise 4 children all by herself.

This admiration extended to my own mother when she lost her husband, my father, also at a very young age. Despite all of the grief and hardship, my mom did an amazing job at raising me and remained strong and positive for my sake. Without the strength of my grandmother raising my mom, and my mom raising me, I wouldn’t be who I am today. Women are beyond incredible!

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By Eugenia

 At age 49, I fulfilled my life long dream, which I thought was no longer attainable. My path to becoming a teacher was not a conventional one. I took a leap of faith when five years earlier, I applied and was accepted as a mature student for the Concurrent Education Program at York.

I resigned from a well paying, management role in corporate Canada, sold my home, and temporarily moved into my mom's home with my family.  

With the unwaivering support of my husband and my daughters, I immersed myself into my studies and did not have much of a social life for five years, but I absolutely loved my experience at York. My youngest daughter, who was finishing up her degree at York, and my new nineteen year old university friends helped me navigate my way through York's systems and processes. But I also ensured that I was successful by accessing resources, becoming a volunteer at the mature student's office, and eventually working part time as a mentor to help at risk students at York.

People have told me that they admire me and wish they too could have had the courage to change their lives around. Here's what I respond. I didn't wake up one day at age 44 and think, "Now is the time to follow my dream."  Although I had a very successful career in Corporate Canada, my authentic self had been slowly suffocating so I had to help it breathe again for my well being!

Women Celebrating Women -  Eugenia's Story Continue reading

Chloe ...With Love is committed to empowering women to

• find their inner strength and power
• use their voice and have their words heard
• live their truth and full potential

As part of International Women’s Day, we want to play our role in “Uplifting Women” by creating a platform for us to celebrate achievement and raise visibility for women in this world who are playing a significant part in advancing gender equality, creating an environment where other women can thrive and for driving positive change.

Please send us your story or the story of a woman you admire and from March 1st to March 8th, we will share the stories of these empowered women. We want to support this movement to shine a light on these incredible leaders and how they #ChooseToChallenge.

On March 8, the story of the woman that receives the most likes on our social media sites will be gifted one of three beautiful Chloe Classic unique necklaces created to celebrate this day. 

Please send your stories to nancy@chloewithlove.com.

Chloe ...With Love is committed to empowering women to

• find their inner strength and power
• use their voice and have their words heard
• live their truth and full potential

Read some great stories from empowered women that inspire us...

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