Gwen's Foundation

When a loved one is diagnosed with a terminal illness, the emotions come on like a deluge. Heartbreak, anger, fear, uncertainty, denial. But eventually, the question becomes, “What do we do now?” The answer should be, “Embrace the time left and make as many memories as possible.” Gwendolyn Fleck, was a devoted partner and a loving mom to our two children, At age 41, Gwen was diagnosed with a recurrence of breast cancer. Travel was our family passion, so we started planning some trips. But the chemo wasn’t working, and Gwen became too weak to travel. Within two months, she was gone. During her last days, Gwen spoke of our trips to Disney World with the kids and moving to South Carolina as being among her favorite memories. She left these final instructions to her family: 🔸 Do not stop dreaming big 🔸 Spend lots of time together 🔸 Be Happy no matter what 🔸 Be Silly 🔸 Take in lots of adventure 🔸 Travel and see the world 🔸 Don’t put any conditions on what it takes to be happy with your loved ones, just enjoy the time no matter what you are doing In Gwen’s honor, we’ve created Gwen’s Foundation. Our mission is to enable families navigating a loved one’s terminal illness to make memories while traveling together. Given Gwen’s love for Disney World vacations, that will be one of the fully funded experiences we provide. But experiences will be based on each family and the limitations of the loved one’s diagnosis: Some may be international trips; some may be local trips. Others may be experiences brought into the family’s home. All will be fully funded. During Gwen’s illness, her dear friends gifted our family a professional photography session. Taken just weeks before she passed, those are the last photos of our family together. And so, each Gwen’s Foundation family will receive a session and photos from a professional photographer as another way to make and preserve cherished memories together. Visit us at gwensfoundation.org!