On August 25 at 1:33 PM, the world lost a great woman.
Leticia Valdez passed away in North Shore Palliative Care from cancer. She may no
longer be in this world, but she will always be remembered as a great mother, a strong
sister, a characteristic aunt, a hard worker, and as a wonderful friend.
Leticia was born and raised in Benguet, Philippines. There, she lived in Philex during her
childhood and moved to Balili, La Trinidad with her family. She immigrated to Canada in
1998, worked hard, and eventually brought her only child to Canada on June 2004 for a
better life.
In 2008 Leticia was diagnosed with breast cancer. When her breast cancer went to
remission in 2010, she battled her inner demons for 8 years. When she was about to
free herself from the shadows of her mind —an unexpected side effect after surviving
cancer—, it pulled her back once more.
In 2018, Leticia was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at the age of 51.
In September 2019, age 52, upon further observation by her oncologist, the confirmed
to Leticia that she had terminal cancer. Leticia did not want to give up and asked for
more aggressive treatments, kept fighting and wanted to do as much as she could to try
to beat her diagnosis.
However, on 2020 at the advice of her oncologists, Leticia stopped her treatments and
was admitted into palliative care until her death.
From 2008 to 2020, Leticia battled countless times with her cancer, pain, and her inner
demons. On August 25 and on, she no longer needs to fight, and she is at peace. Even
though she no longer lives in this physical world, she lives in our hearts and thoughts.