PENHOLD -- Even while facing what many consider an insurmountable life issue, Lisa Duke is radiant, smiling and always focused on the welfare of others.
"I think I need to volunteer for the community," she said last week at her home with a determined tone.
But she also wants to reach out to everyone in her life -- friends, family members, neighbours and hockey moms, who have not only made it their beloved mission in their lives to make Duke's life easier the past few months but even more joyful than it was, and still is.
"The support I have received is just out of this world. I will never be able to pay back the amount of kindness people have shown me and my two young kids," said the 37-year-old mother of seven-year-old Troy and his six-year-old sister Mariah. "The hockey community has really stepped up.
"I just want for one second to put the spotlight back on them and the community, and say thank you," she added.
Duke was told last December her breast cancer, first diagnosed in July of 2016, had metastasized and spread to her liver. Her doctor said her condition was terminal.
"I thought we had beat it but in December I was re-diagnosed. I am doing chemo treatment again, hopefully to keep it at bay as long as we can," said Duke.
In the meantime, her life today is a special one and revered by countless citizens in the region. Duke's huge impact with countless people cannot be overstated. They have rallied together, whether at hockey rinks, on Facebook or over a coffee at a neighbour's home, to support the kind-hearted Penhold hockey mom who never complains, and is always first in line to help anyone in need.
"Lisa is an amazing woman. The hockey community is family. When you are in a small community like Innisfail it's not just your team. We all just come together," said Penhold hockey mom Tosha Giesbrecht, whose eight-year-old daughter Paisley goes to school with Troy at Penhold's Jessie Duncan Elementary School.
"You see the other parents at the rink, and when you hear of something like what Lisa is going through, when you hear that's happening, that it's impacting a family member, you can't help but be touched and wanting to do something."
And Giesbrecht did do something. In early December she was inspired to create a Gifts of Love for Lisa tribute, an initiative that spread like wildfire across the region's minor hockey community, and even to families of the Penhold School of Dance, of which Mariah is a member.
"It started with collecting gift cards or card donations and stuff like that, and I just sent it out to my hockey moms that I know on Facebook, and they started sharing it with their hockey moms," said Giesbrecht.
On Dec. 22, Duke's heart was immeasurably touched at the home of her older sister, Julie Windebank, when she received a bouquet filled with about $700 in gift cards and about $1,380 cash. In the meantime, the hockey community stepped up with its own love for Lisa. Innisfail Minor Hockey Association kids taped their sticks pink for games, a thoughtful gesture that was also seized by opposing teams. Ten players and a coach from Troy's team, the Innisfail Novice Co-op Flyers, even shaved their heads in support. Supporters have set up a GoFundMe page - Love for Lisa - and more than $11,400 has been raised to date for the “breast cancer warrior” and her family.
"It amazes me the people that have come forward that we don't even know. I think it has shown every single member of our family how much support is behind Lisa," said Windebank, who is one year older than sister Lisa. "It has been a good reminder to us to know that because of the person Lisa is is why this support is happening.
"She will sometimes say, 'I don't deserve all this support.' And we try to tell her it's coming because of the person she is," she added. "It's coming because she paid it forward so many times to people, and she has been such a good support for so many other people. It's now her turn to receive some of that.
"It has been good for everybody, even the kids, to see, to be able to know how good a person their auntie, their mommy, sister and daughter really is."
For the time being, Windebank's little sister is still smiling, lovingly embracing every day she has with friends, family and hockey moms. There is still plenty of fight in Duke to beat the cancer, and so much she feels she needs to do to give back to others, especially her two young kids.
"I get through it because of my kids, absolutely I have to for them. I don't have a choice but to be brave and go every day knowing I can't take any time for granted," said Duke. "I need to absolutely enjoy every moment I can because you just never know."
