Sturbridge 7-27-07 (Page 1) - Stonebridge Press and Villager ...

4 STURBRIDGE VILLAGER • Friday, October 31, 2008
That’s what old friends are for …
BENEFIT LUNCHEON CELEBRATES COURAGE OF DEBBIE DAVIAU
BY CHRISTOPHER TANGUAY
NEWS STAFF WRITER
SOUTHBRIDGE — Debbie Daviau grew up
in Southbridge. You may know her as Debbie
Ford.
She graduated from Marianhill High School
in 1975, settled down, and had a son named
Tim. She raised her son along side four close
friends and young mothers that had seven
kids between them.
“We actually raised our kids together when
they were young,” Trish Bourassa said yesterday,
a friend of Debbie’s since childhood.
By the time her children had grown up and
proceeded with their own lives, she had lost
contact with many of the friends from her
past, as people often do.
Approximately 10 years ago Daviau was
first diagnosed with breast cancer.
In a letter to the Southbridge Evening News,
Bourassa wrote, “[Daviau] called me out of
the blue a few years ago and talked to me
about how she was. It sounded like after
numerous surgeries, radiation and
chemotherapy that things were improving …
apparently they were not.”
Bourassa said that she and Daviau had not
spoken in so long that she did not even recognize
the name that appeared on her caller ID.
The two rekindled their friendship, checking
in with one another once or twice a year.
Prior to a few weeks ago, the last time
Bourassa spoke to the friend she said, “practically
lived at my house,” when they were in
school together, was more than a year ago.
“She was doing well a year and a half ago,”
Bourassa said.
More recently however, Bourassa said her
dear friend, who she called a “blonde firecracker,”
awoke one morning with stinging
pain in her back and shoulders accompanied
by an over all feeling of fuzziness.
STURBRIDGE — The Sturbridge
Optimist Club will host a beer tasting
event from 7 to 9 p.m. on
Saturday evening, Nov. 22 in the
upstairs function room at Admiral
T.J. O’Brien’s, 407 Main Street in
Sturbridge.
Due to the popularity of this
event, advance ticket purchase is
recommended. Admission to the
event is $25 per person and
includes the sampling of at least 16
premium and micro-brewed malt
beverages. Beers, ales, stouts,
A trip to the doctor revealed that Daviau’s
cancer had masticized into her spinal column,
attacking her sciatic nerve resulting in constant,
intense pain.
“She has very advanced cancer that has
spread to much of her body including her
spinal column. She has been in quite a bit of
pain that they are trying to control with medication
and treatment,” Bourassa wrote.
Besides the burden thrust upon Daviau and
her husband, Kevin, by the disease itself, a
second powerful stressor has intruded into
their lives.
“The insurance company gives us a real
hard time,” Kevin Daviau said. “We have to
constantly fight.”
He went on to explain that many of Debbie’s
doctors have championed their cause and
fought with insurance companies on the family’s
behalf, but with some medications costing
upwards of $15,000, producing the funds to
continue Debbie’s treatment is growing more
difficult by the day.
Just yesterday, Debbie underwent a very
invasive procedure that involved doctors
inserting a shunt through her skull, and funneling
heavy doses of radiation into her spine.
A scan in two weeks will determine how well
the procedure, which does have a very high
rate of effectiveness, has worked.
“She’s a caring person,” Kevin Daviau said
of his wife. “She loves all her grandkids,” he
added, five in all.
Bourassa also said that her friend particularly
loves visits from her grandnieces.
With bills piling up and Kevin missing copious
amounts of work to be with his wife,
Bourassa said the family was recently in danger
of having their electricity turned off.
“Cancer is a brutal disease to fight under
the best of circumstances. She should not
have to worry about being alone, or afraid of
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how they will pay the bills, including the electric
bill that keeps her pain machine running,”
Bourassa’s letter reads.
According to Kevin, the family received a
couple monetary donations that enabled them
to pay this month’s round of bills and put
some food in their cupboards.
On Saturday, Nov. 1, Debbie’s family and
friends will be hosting a fundraiser event at
Admiral T.J. O’Brien’s in Sturbridge from 2-6
p.m.
“I am asking everyone to please help out,”
Bourassa wrote. “Even if you don’t know any
of us, it is my hope that you will all feel compassion
for another person so gravely ill and
in need.”
The event costs $20 per person, and will feature
a raffle of locally donated merchandise.
Tickets are available at Admiral T. J.
O’Brien’s, from Daviau’s brother Dick (508)
320-5019 or through Bourassa at (774) 230-0174.
News staff writer Christopher Tanguay
may be reached at (508) 909-4132, or by e-mail
at ctanguay@stonebridgepress.com.
fundraiser event at Admiral T.J. O’Brien’s
in Sturbridge from 2-6 p.m.
“I am asking everyone to please help out,”
Bourassa wrote. “Even if you don’t know any
of us, it is my hope that you will all feel compassion
for another person so gravely ill and
in need.”
The event costs $20 per person, and will feature
a raffle of locally donated merchandise.
Tickets are available at Admiral T. J.
O’Brien’s, from Daviau’s brother Dick (508)
320-5019 or through Bourassa at (774) 230-0174.
News staff writer Christopher Tanguay may
be reached at (508) 909-4132, or by e-mail at ctanguay@stonebridgepress.com.
Sturbridge Optimist Club hosts Annual Thanksgiving Beer Tasting
lagers and pilsners will be among
those available for sampling and
tasting, as available. Admission
also includes a selection of hearty
appetizers and dishes prepared for
the event by the culinary staff of
T.J. O’Brien’s. Tickets are now
available from any member of the
Club listed below, or if available, at
the door on the evening of the
event. During the evening, attendees
will have the opportunity to
participate in raffles for prizes
which will include many local fine
dining experiences, gift baskets,
and gift certificates, generously
donated by local merchants. This
year a special prize will be made
available through a silent auction.
The winning bidder will get to
choose between a four hour
evening sunset cruise or a four
hour fishing trip, trolling for
bluefin tuna off the coast of southern
Maine. The trip is valued at
$700 and will be awarded to the top
bidder in the silent auction.
The Sturbridge Optimist Club
is a local chapter of Optimist
International. All monies raised
from this event go directly to support
the youth of Sturbridge and
the tri-community area, in the
form of various youth camp scholarships,
donations to school
libraries, funding for school field
trips, bicycle safety programs, as
well as essay and oratorical competitions.
The Club also contributes
to the Center of Hope, supporting
their program participants
through the Center’s annual Prom
Debbie Daviau
Program. The Sturbridge
Optimist Club is made up of local
business people and citizens interested
in supporting local youth
programs, and is currently seeking
new members. Tickets for the
event, as well as information about
joining the club, can be obtained
by contacting any one of the following
individuals: Mark Amadio
at (508) 347-0008, Cheryl Wheaton-
Reyes at (508) 347-9511 or Michael
Sosik at (508) 347-5922.
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During the Month of November,
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