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Siblings fight to stay together, pursue education after mother’s death




By Brock Weir

The four Broad siblings had just made important decisions on what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives.
The eldest, an animal lover, set her heart on studying to be a veterinary assistant, the second eldest continuing her work towards a business diploma, the third making the first step on the road to becoming a chiropractor, while the youngest, still a student in high school, began laying the groundwork towards an apprenticeship in mechanics.
Their world, however, was turned upside down earlier this year when their mother, Letitia (Tisha), lost her battle with cancer.
A single mother raising her four children in Aurora, Tisha left her children with many happy memories, but the two eldest have been thrust into a parenting role, fighting to keep their young family together.
The Broads, who range in age from 22 to 18, are the subject of an ongoing Go Fund Me campaign set up by a family friend with a $50,000 goal to help them not only meet living expenses, including the rent on their Yonge and Henderson home, but get their post-secondary goals back on track.
“Mom passed away on January 22,” says Brittany Broad, who put her businesses courses on hold to take care of Tisha. “She was diagnosed with breast cancer and then, shortly after, lung cancers – two cancers that had nothing to do with each other. She got sick pretty quick and we did chemo, then we tried amino therapy. She got sick to the point where it was really hard for me to take care of her at home and she was in a lot of pain.
“We admitted her to the hospital on January 20 and from there to January 21, she just went downhill. She wasn't to the point where we knew she was going to pass away, but she wasn't doing too good. All of a sudden, I got a call at 3 a.m. saying they were pretty much doing CPR and I needed to get my butt to the hospital as soon as possible. I collected my siblings and we went up there, but she had passed before we even got there.”
Following Tisha's passing, a Go Fund Me campaign was set up by family friend Belinda Painezza with a $50,000 goal, so said she and other friends of the family were concerned about the family's wellbeing as they try to navigate a very different new reality together.
“It honestly means the world to us,” says Brittany. “We can't thank these people enough for helping us. It's huge because you don't realise how many people go through stuff like this. The fact our story has been touching to so many people means a lot, and it means a lot that people are willing to help out. People who don't even know us are helping us because they know losing your mom is a huge, huge thing.
“Our top priority is for my three siblings to go to school, and hopefully me too if I can go back, but mainly for those three to go to school. I didn't know how much it was to live, I had no idea how many bills there were, rent, and nowadays you can't even buy a house without having so much down payment. The four of us have no way to get anywhere because we don't have any kind of foundation.”

For more information on the Fundraiser for the Broad Family, visit gofundme.com/fundraiser-for-the-broad-family.
Excerpt: The four Broad siblings had just made important decisions on what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives. The eldest, an animal lover, set her heart on studying to be a veterinary assistant, the second ...
Post date: 2019-03-07 00:25:36
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