Window Cleaner Helps Out Cancer Sufferers

COLLEGE PRO WINDOW Cleaning's Shawn Wood offers free window and gutter cleaning services to Comox Valley cancer patients on Saturdays. He will also donate 10 per cent of his business profits to the BC Cancer Agency. Click to enlarge.

Good Samaritan appreciates suffering of cancer patients: At a time when many people would focus solely on themselves and their loved one, Shawn Wood, 28, is reaching out to help others. Wood's fiancée Emily Niinemets, 24, was diagnosed with aggressive lymphoma cancer in early January. She has been undergoing chemotherapy treatments and has often been very low on energy — sometimes she is unable to get out of bed. But, while many people would hunker down and focus solely on caring for their sick fiancée, Wood decided he wants to help others in situations similar to Niinemets'.

Wood owns College Pro Window Cleaning, and will donate 10 per cent of his company's profits to the BC Cancer Agency. He also plans to spend two to three Saturdays per month providing his services free of charge to Comox Valley cancer patients. His reason for helping others? Simple. He can see what it's like to be a cancer patient. "When I see my fiancée battling through this, I can see how rough it could be for someone to try to do something for themselves," said Wood. "I understand what it is like to have no energy, and need some extra help."

Wood added he and his fiancée have a huge support network of family and friends in the Valley, which takes a bit of the stress off them, and he will have more employees this spring and summer, allowing him to work a bit less than previously and spend more time with Niinemets. Also, "My Saturdays themselves are usually the days she spends with her mom so I thought that'd be a good chance for me to get out and do something," added Wood. While Wood said he wants to help cancer patients he noted that he will help others who need it. "If I can just help anyone — that's really the goal — so anyone who's just really in need I have no problem helping them out," he explained. "So, I'd hear their story, why they need it, and then I'd decide if they would qualify for the help."

For more information, contact Shawn Wood at 250-650-1761. Appointments are on a first-come first-served basis and space is limited. Wood can clean exterior windows, skylights, gutters or siding. He said his fiancée seems to be responding well to the chemotherapy treatments and doctors told him she has a very strong chance of beating her cancer. However, Niinemets' aggressive lymphoma is Burkitt-like, which Wood said makes treatment more difficult. "They're still not 100 per cent sure what steps she's going to have to take yet," Wood said, adding "she's getting progressively better which is really hopeful."