Calgary family honours late daughter’s legacy through fundraiser birthday celebration

Family, friends and community members gathered in Inglewood on Sunday to celebrate what would have been Evelyn Roy’s 18th birthday, continuing a tradition that began after her death and has grown into a fundraiser for children undergoing cancer treatment.

Evelyn died when she was 11 after battling Stage 4 neuroblastoma, a type of cancer that develops in immature nerve tissue.

The annual celebration at Campland included music, dancing, sweet treats, lemonade and opportunities to donate to RadFlix, a program that aims to help children reduce stress and anxiety by being able to watch their favourite movies during radiation.

Your weekday lunchtime roundup of curated links, news highlights, analysis and features.

A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.

“A lot of people are unaware that kids have to go to an adult hospital to receive radiation,” Evelyn’s mother Heather Roy said. “Ev would have radiation and she would say, ‘I wish I could just watch a movie,’ just knowing that having that little bit of simple distraction would be so helpful.”

Roy explained that a lot of kids are incapable of staying still during radiation and have to be sedated, creating an extra layer of stress for them.

“We have kids using RadFlix as young as two years old that don’t need sedation, which is just absolutely remarkable,” Roy said. “And just built off this idea of, ‘if I could just watch a movie,’ she knew that positive distraction would have helped her so much, so now being able to provide that for people is very honouring of her belief and her legacy and what she wanted to see happen.”

Roy said the first birthday celebration in 2020 was a simple driveway dance party created to honour Evelyn and something she loved.