HopeSpring Cancer Support Centre & Life After Me: peace and clarity when needed.
HopeSpring is leading a new approach to whole-person support—helping individuals and families prepare not just for treatment, but for life, legacy, and peace of mind.
At HopeSpring Cancer Support Centre, we believe support for the cancer patient and their loved ones goes beyond the medical diagnosis and treatment; our motto is Every Cancer, Every Stage, Everyone, offering support programs, services and hope for the body, mind and soul in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada for over 30 years. Our mission is to help our members and their families feel prepared, supported and at peace, no matter what lies ahead.
Shawn Halowatzki, President of the Board, and visionary for the non-profit, immediately imagined the potential impact that Life After Me would have on the HopeSpring community and the opportunity that this new solution to legacy planning would add to the whole-person support. With the addition of the Life After Me online legacy planning platform, HopeSpring is now able to offer members support to prepare for treatment, programs and services during treatment and preparation for life, legacy and peace of mind, no matter what lies ahead.
“This initiative doesn’t just support individuals, it strengthens families and communities during some of life’s most difficult moments.” Mary Lou Miller
As part of whole person care, HopeSpring is redefining what support looks like from diagnosis, treatment, survivorship and beyond. HopeSpring is leading the way in bringing digital legacy planning into the cancer support space without the investment of the non-profit of having to do so. Our members now have access to legacy planning support in a simple and easy way, in order to organize and store personal wishes, legal documents, login details in a safe and secure manner. You will always own your information, no one but your trusted appointees or the trusted advisors- that you decide upon, will have access to your information. With Life After Me, HopeSpring is expanding support through the transitions of life living with cancer.
The State of Affairs-Legacy Planning in Canada
According to an Angus Reid poll, fifty percent of people living in Canada do not have a will. The article cites the most common reasons being, that people think that it is costly, organization is too difficult or they believe that they don’t have sufficient assets to have a will. Later on, in that same article the author states that one in ten Canadians over the age of 34 without a will, don’t want to think about the inevitability of death. These numbers address the state of people's affairs, simply put, people see it as a task that “I will get to someday”.
We see it all the time at HopeSpring, when a major illness comes along, such as a cancer diagnosis and the patient’s life gets turned into chaos. Many members face uncertainty around documentation, wishes and family communication. These conversations are put off, avoided or delayed as reality sets in with the multiple medical visits, financial burdens and uncertainty, all being major causes of stress.
It is easy to get started with Life After Me; a user-friendly, online platform to organize personal life - store important documents such as wills, banking info and medical records, making access convenient when you are not able to. Saving passwords and online account information is now possible, so that your loved ones will be able to complete your online-life wishes when the time comes. Think of Life After Me as a partner in legacy planning or as one Life After Me team member stated “a well thought out personal record manager (PRM, think CRM for your personal life)”.
Life After Me Commits to Sustain HopeSpring Cancer Support Centre
As one of the first cancer support organizations in Canada to recognize and respond to this unmet need in a compassionate, practical way. We are pleased to partner with Life After Me to integrate digital legacy planning into client care, thereby offering another way to take the stress off of a cancer diagnosis, providing peace of mind, clarity and organization and lessening the burden off of families. By signing up, you are not only providing a gesture of care and love, you are helping sustain the HopeSpring Cancer Support cause, Life After Me has committed to donate a percentage of the subscription back to sustain cancer support at HopeSpring.
Life After Me believes that everyone should have access to legacy planning and as a result is offering a discount on a subscription signup to anyone associated with HopeSpring. Their commitment to HopeSpring will be ongoing throughout this partnership, they believe in the excellent work that HopeSpring is supplying to the community.
"So we see this as a beautiful opportunity to reduce stress because at HopeSpring Cancer Support Centre, we deal in the psychosocial aspect of the cancer diagnosis."~Shawn Hlowatzki, HopeSpring Board President
Shawn Hlowatzki states "I would not want anyone within my family to have a scavenger hunt after I'm no longer here.” Life After Me provides any patient and their family, regardless of the outcomes of diagnosis or treatment, the peace of mind that their loved ones are taken care of in a dignified, respectful and secure manner. Shawn encapsulates the essence of Life After Me beautifully, “And the digital perspective of being able to curate and decide what you wish to have in your specific portal, that is very safe and is accessible for someone of my choosing to represent me, is so important.
This is more than just a partnership, it’s a move to a new standard of care that reflects what people truly need for their loved ones during the toughest times: clarity, dignity, and peace of mind.
NOTE: HopeSpring Cancer Centre has been providing non-medical cancer support serving the following locations in Ontario, Canada and beyond: Waterloo, Wellington, Perth, Grey, Bruce Counties, Saugeen First Nation, Chippewas Anwasah Unceded First Nation, and beyond. Providing programs, services and hope to those affected by cancer for over 30 years.
