Belleville community comes together for child facing cancer

A donation jar sits on the bar at The Beaufort Pub in preparation for the fundraiser for Lincoln Drake, a three-year boy fighting cancer. Photo by Kyle Ellington

By Kyle Ellington

BELLEVILLE –  The Belleville community is being asked to help three-year-old Lincoln Drake fight cancer at Friday’s fundraiser.

Kathy Primeau, the general manager of The Beaufort Pub, is organizing a fundraiser Drake, who was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour when he was 13-months old. He has fluid on his tiny brain. He started chemo for 70 weeks and is unable to walk, eat, sleep or speak.

“I read about him in the newspaper. Myself and my staff usually do a fundraiser usually every month and we felt that this was something in our community that we wanted to support,” she said.

Primeau met Drake and his family three weeks ago and considers herself the only lucky one at the pub to have met him.

She said she was in contact with the family a few times.

“They actually came here a few weeks ago for lunch. The whole family came Lincoln, his mom, dad, and his two sisters and they’re a very close family that just needs a little help. He was just like any typical little boy.”

“They’re still smiling and still laughing even though they have so much tragedy and sorrow,” she said.

It’s unclear what the current condition of Drake. His family will be at the fundraiser.

Primeau declared that there is no number goal and that the sky’s the limit to how much can be donated and five per cent of the sales on Friday are also going towards the donation.

“We have been getting a lot of donations from the community people have just randomly been coming in and putting money in the jug.,” she said.

The experience has changed her.

“It definitely makes you value the people you love around you and as a community, if we all come together we can make life a little bit better for this little boy. I think as a community we should be proud of ourselves for coming together and helping somebody in need,” said Primeau.