Steinbach rallies around volunteer firefighter dying of brain cancer
Robin Summerfield | CBC News | Posted: August 3, 2016 10:21 PM | Last Updated: August 3, 2016
GoFundMe campaign to help Dale Wiebe and his wife aims to raise $20K
Friends of a volunteer firefighter in Steinbach, Man.. who is dying of brain cancer hope to raise $20,000 to support him and his wife.
Dale Wiebe has incurable brain cancer. A few weeks ago, doctors put the 39-year-old on palliative care.
That's when friends jumped in and started a GoFundMe campaign to help Wiebe and his wife, Jenean, cover any unexpected costs. So far, the campaign has raised nearly $4,000.
"It's a little overwhelming, in a good way," Jenean Wiebe said in an interview Wednesday.
"Just to know that there are people out there that are willing to step in and help, regardless of how well they know us or how well we know them."
Before being diagnosed in 2008, Dale Wiebe worked in a car repair shop and had volunteered for the local fire department for the past 15 years.
Doctors gave a 95 per cent chance his cancer would be cured. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation followed.
Today, Wiebe has difficulty speaking and uses a walker to help get around.
Jenean Wiebe, meanwhile, recently quit her job as a health-care aide to stay at home with her husband full-time.
Despite his physical limitations, Dale is still the same guy she married, Jenean said.
"His attitude [hasn't changed] through the whole experience. He just keeps on going day to day," she said.
"It seems like nothing else has been affected — his mood, his spirits. He still has a twinkle in his eye."
Dale Wiebe's illness has hit close to home for first responders in Steinbach, said assistant fire chief Mike Penner, who is also a close friend.
"It's hard to see a close friend like Dale be affected by cancer," said Penner, who praised Wiebe as a go-to guy who everybody relied on at the fire station.