Dream fulfilled for sick city woman

By Lethbridge Herald on July 22, 2023.

Alejandra Pulido-Guzman
LETHBRIDGE HERALD

A Lethbridge resident was able to fulfill an end-of-life dream recently thanks to a Canadian charity that fulfills dreams for adults within their last year of life. 

Oneday Dreams is a charity organization based out of Windsor, Ontario. It was founded by a couple of friends who realized many children had opportunities to fulfill their dying wishes, but there was a lack of opportunities for adults to be able to experience the same. 

Mike Bennett, a social worker who spent many years in hospice and palliative care, along with his long-time friend Jason Soulliere, who is a talent agent at The Feldman Agency, got their talents together and with the help of many have been able to fulfill many end-of-life wishes for Canadians across the country. 

From FaceTime with a celebrity, to taking a trip to Niagara Falls, or something as simple but yet so meaningful as a meal at a favourite restaurant surrounded by loved ones, Bennett says each dream they have fulfilled has been as unique as the person they have fulfilled it for. 

One of those dreams was fulfilled right here in Lethbridge for 34-year-old Nicole Adams, who had been diagnosed with kidney failure last year and had recently been taken off the kidney transplant list due to some complications that lead to an infection in her chest. 

Adams said she began having issues with her kidney in her early 20’s, and by her late 20s her kidney started to fail, which led to last year’s diagnosis. 

She said she has been living in Lethbridge for over half of her life and never had the opportunity to visit the Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens, and when her councillor found out about Oneday Dreams and asked her what she would like to do, she said going to the gardens had always been on the top of her bucket list.  

“I got to go and experience it with my husband, who also never had the opportunity to go to it either. We got to walk around it, it was a gorgeous day out and then we went to the Firestone Restaurant, which everyone always told me was a really good restaurant, but I never would have been able to go there on my own,” said Adams. 

She said she had a romantic date with her husband at the restaurant they were able to enjoy a nice meal together. After their day together, they were able to spend the night at the Coast Hotel. 

“The room was quite big, the hotel nicely gave us the honeymoon suite, I believe that’s what it was, it had a jetted tub in it,” said Adams. 

She said being able to fulfill that dream meant a lot to her, as it was something she not only wanted to do for herself, but also for her husband who has sacrificed a lot to be able to take care of her. 

“It was really awesome because my husband is so amazing, and he takes such a great care of me. He has pretty much given up his life taking care of me, so he hasn’t got to experience a lot of things that he should because he takes care of me,” said Adams. 

Bennet said the Firestone Restaurant donated a $100 gift card towards Adams’ dream and the Coast Hotel offered the hotel room for the night in kind, which helped them a lot, especially while coordinating everything from across the country. 

Bennett said fulfilling the dreams of someone in their last year of life was inspired a few years back by a then 20-year-old woman named Caroline who was a big fan of Canadian band Mariana’s Trench. 

“She had all of their records, and I thought it would be cool if I could somehow connect her to the band. So, I reached out to Jason because we have been friends for quite a while, and I thought maybe Jason could link me to Mariana’s Trench and he was able to. The band was going to be doing a private acoustic show for Caroline in her Hospice room, but unfortunately Caroline died the night before,” said Bennett. 

He said that even though she never had the chance to fulfill her dream, knowing it was going to happened filled her last days with joy and that is what inspired Bennett to fulfill end-of-life dreams for adults, to give them something to look forward to, to provide them with joy in their darkest moments. 

“We put together a board of directors and we received our charitable registration in late 2018 early 2019, and so that was when we became like a federally registered charity, so we can fulfill dreams all across Canada,” said Bennett. 

He said now in 2023 they are on track to fulfill dream number 52 and have many more on the go. He added there is no waiting list, but some dreams take longer than others to be fulfilled, especially those that involve celebrities. 

Bennett said they are always looking for help to be able to fulfill dreams of adult Canadians in their last year of life, and he is very grateful to donors across the country who have made many dreams possible. 

He said some donations are made specifically for an area, for those who wish to fulfill the dreams of members of their own community, while others provide financial help in hopes they can help anyone’s dream be fulfilled. 

“We’re trying to look at local companies or philanthropists who would like to partner with us in the areas where we’re doing the dreams. 

“Maybe we can use their money for dreams that come out of that area, so we’re trying our best to figure out the right way to navigate this so that we have the most success, and to be able to keep fulfilling the dreams the best we can,” said Bennett. Follow @APulidoHerald on Twitter

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