Soup has been called a hug in a bowl B次元官网网址� one that is welcomed when you want something hearty and filling, especially when your taste buds crave nothing else.
For North Saanich resident Andrea Paget, who's battling cancer, she never expected these hugs in a bowl to be coming her way after a simple online post a couple of weeks ago.
"Looking for a delicious soup maker," her post began. "I'm currently wheelchair-bound while I'm going through treatment for cancer. My go-to for lunch is soup, but I'm getting pretty tired of my usual broccoli cheese soup from Costco. Wondering if anyone would be interested in cooking up some different soups. I'll happily pay and can probably arrange for pick up."
The 45-year-old mother of two was first diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in October 2021 and was declared cancer-free after undergoing all the necessary treatments. However, her cancer returned last September.
"Apparently, there's a common timeframe of three years where cancers can come back and go to your bones and that's exactly what happened," she said.
Since returning home after spending over three weeks in the hospital, her husband Chad has taken on the role of a primary caregiver, looking after her and their children.
"When we first got the news, life got hectic and people dropped off tons of food for us," he said. "But then once we got through all that, it was like, OK, we gotta be picky because I've got two kids who like to eat different things. So, I'm cooking three meals, plus leftovers.
Paget's mobility has been severely affected since the recurrence of her cancer, which has made it difficult for her to cook for her family, among other things. Worse, her food tolerance significantly changed.
"I'll go have something that I love and I'm like, nope...but I can eat soup because it doesn't seem to do that."
Knowing how demanding this is for her husband she thought, why not ask for help on the local Facebook group? Within hours after her post, she received close to a hundred replies from people in the community willing to cook soup for her.
"I am completely overwhelmed by the amazing community support to my soup post. Thank you all so much from the bottom of my heart," she said.
Saanichton resident Jamie Gentes is one of those who responded. "I love cooking and I just thought this person is going through some things in life, like we all are, and I was just happy to share some soup. Gentes cooked her a loaded baked potato soup. "It tastes like home," he said.
"I made a creamy chicken gnocchi soup for her," shared Sidney resident Janet Berry. "I thought, if I can show up and make her a hearty bowl of soup, then that's the least I can do with everything that she has going on B次元官网网址� it just seemed like such an easy, simple thing to do."
Berry was not surprised at how the community responded to Paget's post. "I think it's really easy to get wrapped up with the ugly sometimes and we kind of fixate on that. But I think when our community or somebody in our community is going through a tough time, I think that's what rallies people together, you know, that's what brings the good."
Health-care volunteer Katie Nickerson didn't hesitate to respond to Paget's straightforward request because she has personal experience with the positive effects that community support can have on individuals navigating medical challenges. "I already have some in my freezer anyway B次元官网网址� potato leek and curried tomato lentil soup B次元官网网址� so I offered a portion of each of those to her."
Although she would have preferred to deliver the soup herself, she asked her babysitter to drop them off instead because of her hectic schedule not knowing the babysitter had survived cancer as a teenager.
"She knows exactly what I'm going through, so it's heartwarming to see her willingly drop off the soup and help," Paget remarked.
Two chemotherapy sessions later and one more to go, the Pagets' freezer is filled with donations from the community B次元官网网址� each soup filling their soul with a heartwarming bowl of goodness from a community they have been a part of over the past 10 years.
