Stories that inspire
The Fonds Amélie Champagne
The mission of the Fonds Amélie Champagne is to support Lyme disease patients and their families, as well as individuals suffering from psychological distress and their families.
Amélie’s father and creator of the Fund, Mr. Alain Champagne, explains its purpose in his own words:
A fund to push forward science and the access to care
We are creating this fund in order to honour the memory of our beaming Amélie, who took her own life in September of 2022. Amélie had been suffering through the obstacle course that ultimately led her to a belatedly confirmed diagnosis, even as Lyme disease symptoms had been accumulating and increasing in severity for years. Her growing anxiety eventually led a major role in her decision to end her suffering, after years of medical aimlessness.
Amélie is not alone. Lyme disease is under-diagnosed. The experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimate that the true number of Lyme disease cases is six- to twelve times as high as the number of confirmed or probable cases (CDC, 2021).
Quebec is significantly lagging in terms of research capacity, detection norms and protocols, treatment and follow-up for Lyme disease. Too many patients wander in our healthcare system for years before they can get a diagnosis, often by reaching outside of Quebec to get the support they need. This fund is being created for them. Thanks to your donations, we want to support patients and the medical community, as well as research in order to push forward the science and access to care. The Fund will support initiatives that will allow:
- The elaboration of research protocols aiming to deepen our knowledge in terms of the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease;
- The funding of resources to support and follow-up with patients and their families;
- To raise awareness and provide frontline support to better prevent suicide in a context of growing social anxiety and soaring needs.
Amélie was always in “support relationship” mode, day in and day out. Over the years, she extended her hand to seniors living in retirement homes, to youth living with multiple disabilities (at the Centre aux Quatre Poches) and to people living in homelessness in downtown Montreal – and those are just some examples. Her legacy of empathy and benevolence will be front and center in every activity the Fund will support, with the goal of supporting patients living in situations similar to her own, and to make it that despair no longer prevails over hope.
In Amélie’s name, and in the name of all patients living with Lyme disease, thank you in advance for your invaluable support.