“The Answer Is to Try to Help Others”: Emmett’s Story 

At 15, Emmett Ouellette had already spent more than a year trying to understand severe pain in his back.

Initially, the pain was thought to be growing pains. MRIs and CT scans did not reveal the cause, and Emmett was prescribed medication to help manage the discomfort. Then, earlier this year, new and worsening stomach pain sent him and his family back to the hospital.

“I had symptoms for, like, a year plus beforehand, but it was mostly just severe pain in my back and stuff like that,” Emmett recalls. “The medical professionals assumed it was probably just growing pains.”

By February, however, Emmett was seriously ill. His family pushed for further investigation, and he was eventually transferred to McMaster Children’s Hospital. On February 16, after a difficult and uncertain series of tests, Emmett was diagnosed with high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or ALL.

The diagnosis came after a frightening escalation in his condition. His liver and spleen had become enlarged, causing additional complications, and he developed fluid in his lungs. He required significant pain medication, sedation and oxygen support. In total, Emmett spent 17 days in hospital.

For his mother, Julie Neal, the experience reinforced the importance of trusting her instincts and maintaining open communication with the medical team.

“I remember pulling the team out,” Julie says. “I just came right out with, ‘If you’re looking for cancer, and I’m assuming blood, because you’ve got the heme team…’”

The family wanted to understand what the doctors were considering so they could help Emmett understand what was happening to his own body.

“He was old enough,” Julie says. “It’s his body. He’s experienced it. Let’s give him some sort of respect to say, ‘Hey, bud, it might be something we don’t want to hear, but we’ll deal with it.’”

That transparency helped the family prepare for the diagnosis and focus on what came next.

“It landed a lot better,” Julie says. “We were able to sit there calmly. It was the ‘now what’ conversation and not the ‘Oh my God, pick me up off the ground’ conversation.”

A Flag Bearer at the World Cup

While Emmett continues to navigate his cancer journey, he has also been given an extraordinary opportunity to represent young people affected by cancer on an international stage.

Through the Terry Fox Foundation’s involvement with the FIFA World Cup in Toronto, Emmett was selected as one of the flag bearers at the opening match. The opportunity brought together the worlds of cancer research, survivorship and sport, allowing young people whose lives have been touched by cancer to take part in one of the world’s most prominent sporting events.

The experience reflects the continuing impact of Terry Fox-funded research and the Foundation’s commitment to recognizing the young people who benefit from it.

“Working with our incredible Terry’s Team Members and researchers to identify young cancer survivors who have benefitted from Terry Fox-funded research made this opportunity especially meaningful,” says Denise Dias, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Terry Fox Foundation. “Seeing these kids step onto one of the world’s biggest sporting stages was a powerful symbol of hope and courage, and a reminder of the extraordinary impact Terry’s legacy continues to have on the lives of people facing cancer today.”

For Emmett and his family, the moment offered a meaningful connection to Terry Fox’s legacy. Terry’s Marathon of Hope began with one young person facing cancer and grew into a national movement powered by community, courage and a belief in helping others.

Absurd: Supporting Teens Through Cancer Treatment

While navigating his own cancer treatment, Emmett has also created Absurd, an initiative focused on helping other teenagers who are going through cancer treatment.

For teens, a cancer diagnosis can affect much more than their physical health. It can interrupt school, friendships, routines and the sense of independence that is so important during adolescence. Emmett understands that experience personally, and Absurd is his way of helping other young people feel less alone by offering teens items to help them pass the time, and to give them a sense of normalcy in the midst of treatment. At Mac, Emmett noticed that there weren’t a lot of things offered to the teenaged patients at the hospital. Young patients were given toys and stuffed animals, but there was rarely anything for kids his age. With his family leading the charge, they collected items from the community for the teens in oncology. They also created an Amazon wishlist, so that donors could shop the list for the popular more sought after items.

The initiative reflects the family's desire to turn a difficult experience into support for others. Even while managing his own treatment and continuing his education, he has been thinking about what other teenagers and their families may need during an incredibly challenging time.

Absurd is an extension of the values that have always guided Emmett’s family: community, compassion and practical help.

“Fundraising and community is just kind of ingrained in our family,” Julie says. “It’s part of who you are.”

For Emmett, that commitment has become personal. Through Absurd, he is using his own experience to connect with other teens facing cancer and to remind them that they do not have to go through treatment feeling isolated.

The name itself captures something about the experience of being a teenager with cancer: it can feel unfair, disruptive and difficult to make sense of. But through Absurd, Emmett is working to create something meaningful from that experience: support shaped by someone who understands what it is like to be young and in treatment.

A Family Rooted in Giving

Community service is not new to the family. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Julie, Emmett and their family organized food and bottle drives to support people in need.

What began as a small idea grew rapidly. Over two events, the family and their community raised $16,000 and collected 4,000 pounds of food for local organizations.

“It started as, ‘Let’s bring in some food,’” Julie recalls. “And then we thought, ‘Well, let’s do bottles because we can get some money for that.’”

The family later organized the Honky Tonk for the ROCK event, raising $11,000 for Reach Out Centre for Kids. Volunteers, local businesses and community members all contributed to the event.

“Fundraising and community is just kind of ingrained in our family,” Julie says. “It’s part of who you are.”

Julie went on to become one of the co-founders of Burlington Helping Burlington. But by late 2025, another co-founder, Michael Desjardins, had left the organization, and Julie resigned shortly after. In early 2026, she and Michael launched the Levie Initiative, a community project named after Julie’s younger son Liam and Michael’s daughter Evie. The name Levie reflects the way the children are connected as family friends and, fittingly, means “rooted and connected.”

The initiative’s guiding idea is simple: “Rooted in family, growing community.”

Just three days before the Levie Initiative’s launch party on February 19, Julie was at the hospital with Emmett as the family received his cancer diagnosis. 

The timing was shocking, but it did not erase the family’s commitment to helping others. If anything, the experience deepened their understanding of how important community support can be during a crisis.

Terry Fox once said:

“It took cancer to realize that being self-centered is not the way to live. The answer is to try and help others.”

For the family, those words speak to something they have been living for years. Even while facing a devastating diagnosis, they continue to recognize the needs of other families, students and community members.

Their story is not one of ignoring the difficulty of cancer. It is a story about meeting that difficulty with honesty, persistence and connection, and about allowing others to help along the way.

Emmett’s journey is still unfolding. So is his family’s. But through treatment, education, fundraising and community care, the family continues to show what it means to stay connected and to help others, even in the midst of their own hardest days.

Story by Allison Webster

Photo provided by The Terry Fox Foundation, taken at the 2026 World Cup in Toronto, Ontario.