She wanted to build a garden for fellow hospice residents. Volunteers made her dream come true in a day | CBC News

For Jodi Fay, the act of building a garden is to believe in tomorrow.

Fay, who has terminal pancreatic cancer, wanted to create a trail with benches on her friend’s land close to the Prince George, B.C., hospice where she lives, as a garden space where she and fellow residents could find joy and peace.

“I wanted … to offer a space that future families and sick patients can come into a quiet spot where they can just sit and reflect, but yet not have a visual of the [hospice] building,” she said.

Fay, who will turn 60 next Friday, says she tried to work on the project by herself but had to pause when she got tired. 

But thanks to a fellow hospice resident and the support of the local community, she was able to see her wish fulfilled — in just a single day.

On Saturday, about 40 residents gathered at the woodland near the Palliative Care Society’s hospice in the central B.C. city to lay rocks for a path and install a wooden door to mark the trailhead.

One of the volunteers even brought a track loader to help move the heavy rocks and make the work easier. 

‘You can’t help but be affected’

After he was contacted by Fay’s fellow resident, David Mothus put a call out for help for Fay’s project last week on the Facebook group Hell Yeah Prince George, which has 46,000 members — a considerable number considering the city has a population of around 76,000.

Mothus, the group’s administrator, said he was thrilled to see so many people showing up despite the rain.

“These people weren’t all Jodi’s friends … They were just people who saw this human doing this and showed up and started working,” he said.

“They were all not connected except in this common thing of her story. It’s a powerful thing — you can’t help but be affected by that kind of determination.”

Fay, who was diagnosed with cancer two years ago, says her vision to build a garden for fellow hospice residents came from her love for life and her passion for helping others.

“I can sit down and die, or I can stand up and live,” she said. “I’m standing up and living and I’ve got my breath. I’ve got my legs, I’ve got the beauty around me, I’ve got my people, I’ve got everybody.

“So what’s there not to live for?”

Fay said she teared up when she saw so many people had helped make her dream come true. She hopes other people can continue expanding the garden space in the future.

“It’s for the community. It’s for the people that need it,” she said. 

“That’s going to be there for the rest of my life — and for many years to come.”