Dear Editor,

I want to tell you about the company that cares, MacKinnon Transportation Inc. from Guelph, Ont.

I was planning to have a great summer at my trailer in Wasaga Beach. My 1995 Eagle was paid for and I had just transferred from the long board to the short board so I could have more home time. At the beginning of May, my sister Nicole had become ill. It was thought to be nothing serious. Her hand and fingers were very badly swollen. The doctors needed to do more tests to find out what was causing this condition. On May 17th, while on route to Louisville, Ky., the phone rang. It was Nicole, she was crying, telling me that she had cancer; Leukemia. We were devastated, we couldn’t believe it, but it was true.

Just before the May long weekend, Nicole was admitted to the Scarborough General Hospital for chemotherapy treatment. I told her that I would help her through this no matter what. I too moved into the hospital. I shared the room and took care of her.

I put a driver in my truck, but it did not work out. MacKinnon arranged for me to work weekends and gave me pin to pin runs. The dispatch office was great working with me on this. Sometimes there was weekend work and sometimes not, but they always thought of me. I want to thank all of the office staff, the O/Os, and the drivers for giving me the chance to work on the weekends. If it weren’t for them saving me loads for the weekends, I would have had a lot of trouble paying my bills.

Most of the time, on the weekends, while I was working, my nephew Thom would stay at the hospital to be with his mother. My sister got worse. She was in need of a bone marrow transplant. Luckily we have a very large family, 10 kids to be exact. All of us were tested to be a potential donor. As luck would have it, there were two catches, our sister Joanne and our brother Sylvin. After two rounds of intense chemotherapy treatments, her body would not stay in remission so she could receive the bone marrow transplant.

One afternoon, we were both very sad. Into the hospital room came a beautiful birdhouse all painted up, with lovely big flowers inside. Nicole opened the envelope, and on the card it read “From your friends at MacKinnon Transport Inc.” She said “They sure care about you to send me flowers like this.”

Nicole finally received her bone marrow transplant on Dec. 7 from our brother Sylvin. At first all was going as expected then right after Christmas pneumonia set in.

I lost Nicole, my best friend, On Dec. 30, 2000.

If it wasn’t for the understanding people at MacKinnon I would not have been able to spend the time I did with Nicole. With heart filled thanks, I wish to acknowledge all the management, office staff, dispatch, O/Os and drivers (far too many to list here) for all their hugs and support during my time of sadness.

Denise Cote (Unit #3087)

Guelph, Ont.