Young cancer survivor hopes bake sale will add to more than $32K raised for hospital that 'saved my life'

Abigail Stewart knows how to mobilize her friends and family to do good.

The young Winnipeg cancer survivor, 12, along with several volunteers, organized what can only be called a massive bake sale and fundraiser Saturday, with the goal of raising $5,000 for the Children's Hospital.

"All the proceeds will be going to the Children's Hospital oncology unit, the unit that saved my life," she said. 

Abigail was just four when she was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder, multisystem Langerhans histiocytosis. "That is where your white blood cells mutate and attack the body, leaving tumors," she said.

A year of chemotherapy and steroids later, she was in remission, but the treatment and the disorder had lasting effects, including a brace she wears on her leg and hearing loss.

Still, none of that has stopped Abigail from helping others, and earlier this year she was named the Children's Hospital's child ambassador.

Abigail Stewart named Children's Hospital child ambassador in January 2018:

11-year-old cancer survivor will spend a year raising money for Children's Hospital

7 years ago

Duration 0:43

Abigail Stewart, 11, is the 2018 Children’s Hospital Champion. She is currently in remission from a form of cancer, and will travel across Manitoba to raise money for the unit that helped save her life.

No stranger to fundraising, Abigail has raised more than $32,000 for the hospital through various activities over the past few years, and she plans to do more.

On Saturday, that was a bake sale, complete with donated goods from her friends, family and Girl Guide troop, as well as celebrity guests like Winnipeg Blue Bombers mascots Buzz and Boomer encouraging passersby to stop at the sale on Kildare Avenue in Transcona.

"This is the biggest one I've done so far this year," she said. 

When asked how many people had been by the bake sale, she giggled.

"I do not know," she said. "Just a lot."