Donated Moncton home to be transformed into cancer resource hub

Theresa Quimby wishes there had been a place like Bannon House when she went through her cancer recovery journey over the past five years.

“It’s all the things that I had hoped and wanted and wished for,” said Quimby.

The breast cancer survivor is overjoyed that a Moncton, N.B., home has been donated to the Friends of The Moncton Hospital Foundation and will be transformed into a resource hub for people living with cancer.

After extensive renovations are done, the family home on MacBeath Avenue will provide non-medical services and support programs to help cancer patients live better.

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Friends of The Moncton Hospital Foundation interim president and CEO Jacqueline Bloom said an addition will be built to accommodate three activity rooms, a gym, a kitchen to teach nourishment programs and areas for peer support for patients, caregivers and family members.

Bloom said the foundation has become an affiliate with Wellspring, a nationwide non-medical, evidence-based program for people living with cancer.

“These have been tested and tried and true that they help people living with cancer live a better life,” said Bloom. “We are the first affiliate in Atlantic Canada.”

This vacant home on MacBeath Avenue in Moncton, N.B., will become a resource hub for cancer patients. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)

The programs and services will be offered for free, and a referral will not be needed.

Quimby said stress and anxiety, brain fog and especially fatigue are very common for cancer patients.

Cancer fatigue was unlike anything she had ever experienced before.

“I never imagined laying in bed and spending hours trying to drum up the energy just to roll over or to be able to get up and go to the washroom,” said Quimby. “There’s no medication on the market. A cup of coffee won’t help. Forget it with the energy drinks. You’ve got to get your body moving.”

Quimby said the Wellspring’s plethora of programs is “like a dream come true” for cancer patients in the province.

“Our oncology units do a phenomenal job of treating the disease, but with the limited resources they have there’s little time or resources to treat the person,” said Quimby.

This Moncton, N.B., home has been donated to the Friends of The Moncton Hospital Foundation and will be transformed into a resource hub for people living with cancer. (Derek Haggett/CTV Atlantic)

It will also be convenient for people in the Greater Moncton area because the hub is just steps away from the Moncton Hospital’s oncology unit.

The community centre will become a reality thanks to the generous donation of the Bannon family.

Bloom said the donors had lived in the home for decades and some family members had been hospitalized for various illnesses over the years.

The family patriarch died a few years ago and his daughter decided to generously donate the home to the foundation.

“Oftentimes real estate is donated. Usually it’s transferred and sold, but to actually be able to use the house for this wonderful purpose, it’s unique in many ways,” said Bloom.

The foundation will raise $1 million to renovate Bannon House.

Those renovations are scheduled to start soon, and the doors of Bannon House are expected to open in the spring.

Donating to Project Cancer Support to renovate Bannon House can be done by calling the Friends Foundation at [phone], online at FriendsFoundation.ca/donate, or by mailing a cheque to the Friends of The Moncton Hospital Foundation at 135 MacBeath Ave., Moncton, N.B., E1C 6Z8.

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