CORNWALL, Ontario – A Cornwall woman who helped raise thousands of dollars for cancer research and put on the bravest of faces despite a terminal diagnosis has passed away.
Carol-Ann Rattray passed away this week, succumbing to breast cancer.
Her husband John is remembering his wife as a champion, suggesting even in her last days Carol-Ann was as upbeat as ever.
“It was her determination to continue to fight breast cancer,” she said. “But it was also her determination for the family that kept her going all this time.”
Rattray was diagnosed in 2011 with metastatic breast cancer. In an interview last year, when she was putting the final touches to ‘Curl for the Cure’ – a fundraiser for oncologist Mark Clemons and his Ottawa-based cancer research centre – Carol-Ann’s supreme confidence quickly bubbled to the surface.
“My philosophy is you can’t change the cards life has dealt you,” she said. “I was very sick when I was diagnosed. But I’ve never lost a wink of sleep.
“You just get up the next morning and get on with your day.”
Curl for the Cure will take a one-year hiatus, said John, but will return in 2017.
“As in everything she did, when Carol-Ann was diagnosed with cancer she navigated the ordeal with grace,” he said.
Even when time was short this past autumn, Carol-Ann ensured that a $15,000 donation to Clemons’ cancer research work was submitted.
Family and friends of Carol-Ann are being welcomed at the Lahaie and Sullivan Funeral Home on Seventh Street Jan. 12 from 7 to 9 p.m. and Jan. 13 from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m.
A funeral service will take place Jan. 14 at 11 a.m. at St. Williams Church in Martintown.
