17-year-old Emily Epp is preparing to swim the English Channel in July, and will become one of the youngest swimmers to do so.  In honour of her sister Elan, Emily is raising funds to support Canuck Place Children's Hospice - a place where Emily and her family spend a lot of time.

Your donation to Canuck Place helps to provide comfort and care to children and families throughout BC - at no cost to them. To learn more about Canuck Place visit www.canuckplace.org  Donations made via this fundraising page will receive an electronic tax receipt and will be matched by a generous donor.

Double Your Impact!

Thanks to the generous support of the Kids Helping Kids Foundation and Nicola Wealth Management, your gift to Canuck Place in support of Emily’s Eppic swim will be doubled.  Together, we can have twice the impact on children and families at Canuck Place Children’s Hospice.

About the Kids Helping Kids Foundation:

Founded in 2003, our objective is to empower youth so they can make a difference in the lives of other youth. We do this by helping youth initiate fundraisers to benefit other children’s charities, and then matching the dollars they raise. Not only does the charity receiving the money doubly benefit, but also the youth participating in the fundraiser have the opportunity to gain valuable leadership skills, be creative in their efforts, and gain a sense of pride in their accomplishment. Philanthropic minded youth of today become philanthropic adults of tomorrow. Learn more at: http://www.kidshelpingkidsfoundation.ca/

About Nicola Wealth Management:

Nicola Wealth Management has always been an active member in our communities. Initially, our efforts in the community were driven by our generous staff. In 2010, NWM decided to support our people by forming NWM Gives Back, the firm's charitable giving committee. NWM Gives Back seeks to develop and foster a culture of giving, inside and outside of the firm, by acting as facilitators for our people to achieve their chartiable goals. The committee drives donation-matching programs and coordinates automatic payroll deducations to inspire the giving culture. Together we give back to the world in meaningful ways. Lean more at: http://www.nicolawealth.com/ 

Providing Hope:

"I truly do not know what our family would be like if we did not have the support of Canuck Place." said Cheryl Epp, Canuck Place mother to 14-year-old Elan.  "When I think of what our days were like before Canuck Place, I remember endless days of worry, stress and helplessness."

Elan experienced a demyelinating episode after a viral infection when she was 18 months old and lost all of her motor control.  She then experienced many health challenges including recurrent acute pancreatitis, feeding intolerance, severe scoliosis and hip dislocations.

When the Epp family first came to Canuck Place in 2012, Elan was dealing with significant amounts of pain and vomiting 15 to 20 times a day.  She wasn't sleeping because of this and cried for endless hours, all day and all night.

"Canuck Place's Dr. Siden recommended some treatments that Elan had never had before," Cheryl recalled.  "Within months of our first Canuck Place stay, Elan stopped vomiting! Being able to see her smile, laugh, play with her sisters, and sleep after years of suffering is something I don't know how to describe with words."

Elan loves music and being around people, especially other children. She gets really excited when others interact with her and she will laugh at almost anything as her sisters, Erin and Emily, can attest to.

"We will forever be grateful to the doctors and staff at Canuck Place for supporting our entire family - for giving us back our sweet, giggly Elan and mostly for giving us hope for the future."

Training Updates:

June - Emily Completed an 11 hour swim around Bowen Island in preperation for next month's English Channel Swim.  Read more about her swim here: http://globalnews.ca/news/3539153/b-c-teen-emily-epp-prepares-to-swim-across-english-channel/

May - Emily has been in the lake almost every day, Okanagan Lake is near flooding and it is full of debris right now. Her open water coach said the debris and turbidity is perfect for English Channel training (apparently the water can be quite gross in the Channel) :)

In the Media:

Emily's story has been featured in many publications across BC.  Thank you to everyone who has helped to spread the word.

"Kelowna Girl to Swim English Channel, raise funds for Canuck Place" - http://globalnews.ca/news/3043549/kelowna-girl-to-swim-english-channel-raise-funds-for-canuck-place/?sf40900965=1

Special Thanks:

Thank you to our local sports store Fresh Air Experience who have been very encouraging all along for Emily's swim.  Recently, they connected us with Hammer Nutrition which has provided product for Emily to use for her training and the Big Day! Visit https://freshair.ca and https://hammernutrition.ca for more information.

We'd also like to thank Phoebe who has generously offered the use of her sailboat for Emily's Bowen Island training swim!

A HUGE thank you to the Kids Helping Kids Foundation and Nicola Wealth Management which will help DOUBLE Emily's impact on children and families at Canuck Place.