Holiday parade at Le Phare brings holiday cheer to children in palliative care

Gifts, smiles, but above all, love and support, were shared once again by police officers, firefighters, paramedics, volunteers, and of course Santa Claus, at the annual holiday parade of Le Phare in Montreal on Monday.

“Every year it’s important to spread the message about what Le Phare does for the community and the first responders. It’s amazing,” said Rocco Speranza, the spiritual and community animator at the English Montreal School Board.

The parade is in its fifth year after Marco Cerroni was touched by Noah’s story, a seven-year-old boy living at Le Phare, a Montreal pediatric palliative care resource. Noah’s dream was to become a police officer.

At the time, Cerroni was a Montreal police cadet, and he decided to organize a parade.

Since then, the event spreads holiday cheer to the young patients at Le Phare, the resource dedicated to children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. It’s a big team effort, says Cerroni.

“So the credit goes to all the first responders that are just behind me,” he said. “Without them, I won’t be able to continue to do this every year.”

“I think what was started here five years ago, people are just building on and just, you know, for me, it brings me back,” added Ariane Parent-Lemay, the nursing and allied health director at Le Phare. “For us, it brings us back to what’s important. Community is important, being together, helping each other out, making sure that we rally when we need it the most, and these children need it the most.”

“It’s really special and there’s the magical time of the year, so it’s really fun to see all the families together and the staff and everyone are together, said Antoinette Petti, a clinical care counsellor of pediatric palliative care at Le Phare.

Le Phare is a second home for 11-year-old Zachary, according to his mom Karine Phillips. Zachary was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder at birth and needs the constant supervision.

“Zachary has been using this service of a doctor for about 10 years now,” Phillips said. “So like I said, he’s just about 12. So, we come here for respite stays about 30 days a year. And for us as a couple, we can just rest from all of the medical routine and take care of ourselves so we can continue on, because we don’t know what the future holds.”

“We do what we can, but we only do it because we have a community behind us helping us and making it possible for our non-profit team to be able to offer all this care that we do,” added Parent-Lemay.