Juanita Dinn, face of cancer campaign, remembered for hope, courage and light

Courage. Determination. Hope. Tenacity.

Karl Smith's voice cracks as he reads out this list of words he's written to describe Juanita Dinn, a Newfoundland woman he said will be remembered for her kindness, her shining spirit and for changing the lives of cancer patients in the province.

Dinn was the voice of the In This Together campaign to build a new chemotherapy unit at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's.

She died this weekend at age 54,after a 12-year struggle with breast cancer.

"Juanita had me at hello. She's that type of person. She was so committed to this and she was so inspiring and so determined," said Smith, who is chair of the campaign.

"She filled the room with hope. Everybody that met her just walked away from that meeting being happier and being brighter than when they came in."

'I could be your mother'

In This Together aimsto raise$5 million to expand the Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Centre. Launched just a few months ago, the campaign is already 60 per cent of the way there, Smith said.

The province has also committed $1.5 million for the expansion.

The new centre will meet the increasing needs of cancer patients and their families, Smith said.

In This Together

5 years ago

Duration 5:35

An estimated 1 in 2 people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. Sarah Halliday, Julia Halfyard and Robert Colbourne share their stories of being touched by cancer as part of the Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Care Foundation's In This Together campaign.

"That's one of the things that Juanita pointed out in her opening comments at the campaign ...that one in two people in this province will be touched by cancer in their lifetime," he said.

"The incidence of cancer in the province is increasing faster than any other place in this country. The need's becoming greater and greater all the time. She made the point that look around,I could be your mother, I could be yoursister, I could be your daughter."

Watching her youngest graduate

As for her own family, Dinn's husband andthree sons were "everything to her," Smith said.

"She fought and fought very, very hard to be able to see her last boy graduate high school and that happened last month."

Smith said Dinnnever let her illness get the best of her.

"Whenever she walked into a room, she lit the room up. Despite all the hardship she was going through and the pain and the suffering, she would make you feel better," he said.

"We'llmiss her terribly, but you know something? We'll work harder than we ever have worked as a consequence."

Juanita Dinn's funeral is Thursday at St. Teresa's church in St. John's. Her family is requesting people make donations to the In This Together campaign in her honour.

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