In 2019, Denise and her husband Lloyd moved to Kitchener. Lloyd was on oxygen at the time and so they were introduced to the ProResp team in Kitchener. “Let me tell you, I have never met so many kind people that bent over backwards to make my life and my remaining time with my husband as easy and stress free as possible. Right up until the end, they were there for whatever we needed. You could not ask for a better team,” Denise told us.
In 2021, Lloyd passed away. It was a tough year for Denise. She also lost an aunt and uncle. Then, in 2023, her best friend who is like a sister to her was diagnosed with a brain tumor and two of her aunts died. As if that stress wasn’t enough, at Christmas that year she was visiting Burlington to attend her grandchildren’s holiday concert when her lungs gave out.
“I never made it to the show,” Denise said. A few days later, back in Kitchener, her breathing was so bad that she had her son call her an ambulance. Turns out Denise had pneumonia and influenza. When she was discharged from the hospital, she was put on home oxygen to help manage her COPD.
“Nobody wants to get a diagnosis like this, but one of the silver linings was welcoming ProResp back into my life,” recalled Denise. “They still remembered me because Shawn the driver is still there and Manjot, who was Lloyd’s Respiratory Therapist, is assigned to me. When she came to the door it was like we’d just left off yesterday.”
Denise is regularly commuting back and forth between her home in Kitchener and her daughter’s home in Kitchener, where she helps out 3-4 days a week. Her granddaughter is a competitive gymnast, so Denise often finds herself driving to competitions around the province.
“ProResp always makes sure I have what I need to travel. If I need to be on the road, they will make sure I have what I need. I was finding the oxygen tanks a little tricky to maneuver, so they set me up with a portable oxygen concentrator. It’s just so great knowing that you have someone in your corner—that they are going to be there to make sure I can be there for my family. And they’re a real team—a true team and it shows all the time.” added Denise.
