A High River couple is giving back to the centre that supported their family through cancer diagnoses, loss, and recovery.
LaVera and Nes Davison donated $20,000 to the High River District Health Care Foundation’s Community Cancer Centre.
LaVera said her gratitude for the work the foundation and cancer centre does inspired the donation.
“They are such a wonderful group of people,” she said.
In May of 2025, LaVera was diagnosed with MDS and required several blood transfusions.
“It was a bit traumatic going through everything, but the cancer clinic here was really great,” she said. “It was a lot of readjusting, and they were so good.”
The donation is in memory of LaVera’s sister, Faye, who passed away from cancer three years ago, and her son, Todd, who was a cancer survivor but passed away four years ago.
“We are so fortunate to have this facility here in High River,” she said.
LaVera and Nes discussed how they could express their appreciation for the cancer centre, and decided a cash donation was the best option.
“We have been given a lot, and we wanted to give back,” LaVera said. “That’s exactly what we did.”
Nes explained that the support the team at the cancer centre showed the couple was exemplary.
“It was exactly what we needed at the time,” he said. “We just needed to thank them.”
For the Davisons, ensuring the funds stayed in High River was extremely important.
“I wanted to make sure that it went straight to the folks here and the facility here that deserves it,” Nes said.
The funds will be used to upgrade aging equipment, including replacing IV pumps used for chemotherapy treatment.
Another focus for the foundation is enhancing the comfort of cancer centre patients.
“We’ve been in the process of slowly replacing our treatment chairs, where patients are spending sometimes hours in as they have their treatment,” said Cathy Couey, High River Health Care Foundation Fund Development and Communications Officer.
Every time the foundation receives a donation, it’s meaningful.
“Gifts like this are what allow us to advance care and give our local health care team the tools they need to better care for our community. It makes such a difference in the level of care, in the programming and the equipment that is accessible to our local health care team,” Couey said. “Not only do donations like this make a difference to our local healthcare team, but also to the patients and residents.”
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