Hike for Hospice exceeds $150 K goal

Susan Ingram says she can't imagine Sudbury without Maison Vale Hospice.

Ingram participated in the hospice's ninth annual Hike for Hospice in memory of her mother, Rita Sabourin, who died at the hospice Dec. 28, 2014.

She spent her final 31 days at the hospice, after a cancer diagnosis became terminal.

“They treated her like a queen,” Ingram said. “It was nothing but the most wonderful experience for someone to end their life in.”

Ingram said her five siblings and her father, Rudy Sabourin, were able to visit her mom 24 hours a day – something that would not have been possible in a hospital setting.

By the time around 1,000 people started to hike for the hospice in Bell Park Saturday afternoon, the event had already raised more than $150,000.

“We've achieved our goal,” said Léo Therrien, the executive director of Maison Vale Hospice. “It's exciting.”

Therrien said most of the walk's participants had been impacted by the hospice one way or another. Many visited loved ones there during their final days and months.

Before the walk started, Therrien and others involved with the hospice read out the nearly 200 names of people who spent their final days at the hospice, or received care in their homes from hospice volunteers, over the past year.

Many, like Ingram and her family, wore the names of their loved ones to remember them and the time they spent at the hospice.