Special gift warms heart of Saskatoon woman battling cancer

Ralanda Hall has been facing an uphill battle with ovarian cancer since 2018, and last week she received a gift that truly warmed her heart.

Through a program called Feel the Love, Hall’s Saskatoon home was set up with a brand-new furnace and air conditioning system. The program, which has been around since 2009, works with installers and community members in Canada and the U.S. to provide heating or cooling equipment to those in need.

Allan Awrey, an owner of SaskWest Mechanical, said when he received Hall’s nomination, her story pulled at his heartstrings. Awrey and a team of five people did the entire installation in Hall’s house for free.

“It’s one of those things that just makes you feel good,” Awrey said.

Hall said receiving such a generous gift was both “overwhelming” and “amazing,” and made her feel like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

“I honestly didn’t feel worthy until the woman who nominated me, (Chris Martin) actually said ‘You are a person who gives back,’” Hall said.

Hall’s fight with cancer began five years ago, when an ultrasound exam revealed a tumour.

In less than a month, Hall was booked in for surgery to remove an eight-pound cancerous tumour, and six weeks after that she started chemotherapy.

“In the cancer world, (when there’s) no evidence of disease, a lot of us shorten that to say that we are dancing with NED,” she said.

Hall said she danced with NED for about four years until she was faced with another diagnosis a few months ago after a stitch on her side and heartburn led her back to the doctor.
This time, she said ultrasound revealed the cancer had returned in four different-sized tumors.

Hall went back on chemotherapy and had her final treatment on her birthday, Oct. 2.

“I had people say to me (that) this is perfect, because it’s the end of an era but the beginning of a new era as well,” she said.

Hall said her cancer journey has been a struggle, and she’s learned that it’s OK to not be OK.

“It’s OK to have those moments when you break down and you ask yourself ‘Why me?” she said.  “You need to make sure that you don’t have 80 per cent of those days (and) that you make it go back the other way.”

Above all, Hall said her 13-year-old son is one of the biggest motivations pushing her forward.

“(He’s) my everything that I wake up for, and I do everything for him. I want him to see that it’s OK to not be OK … but it’s also OK to get up and fight,” she said.

LISTEN: 650 CKOM’s/980 CJME’s Mia Holowaychuk speaks with Ralanda Hall about her cancer battle and being a recipient of Feel the Love.