13-year-old Heidi Braun has been receiving treatment since the age of eight
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
A Manitoba teenager organized a cattle auction to help raise money for an organization that’s helped her with a medical condition for the last number of years.
On Dec. 3, Heidi Braun, 13, and her twin sister Allison, whose family farms in Gnadenthal, Man., sold their favourite calf at Winnipeg Livestock Sales with all proceeds going to CancerCare Manitoba.
After the first buyer won the auction, they asked if the calf could be sold again to allow others an opportunity to donate.
“And then it keeps going on and on and on, and then eventually after 11 times, when somebody decided to keep it,” Heidi told CBC.
The auctions brought in more than $37,000.
After some additional donations from producers, Heidi’s auction raised more than $40,000 for CancerCare Manitoba in less than 20 minutes.
A separate fundraising page has raised another $3,425 as of Dec. 15.
She hopes the money raised can help the organization and patients.
“We knew that most of the chemo drugs are really expensive and there has to be money coming from somewhere,” she told Global News. “And (scientists) also need to do lots of research.”
The Brauns have usually held fundraisers at a local community centre but decided on an auction because of COVID-19.
The teen has been involved with the organization for last six years.
Heidi was diagnosed with a chiasmatic (relating to the intersection of the optic nerve fibres at the bottom of the brain) optic pathway glioma, a brain tumour, when she was eight.
Because of where Heidi’s tumour is located, it can’t be operated on. Instead, she takes an oral form of chemotherapy.
"I don't really face many day-to-day challenges, but my vision in my left eye is not good at all," she told CBC.
The auction mart was pleased to participate in the auction.
“We are very proud to have been a part of this and also very proud to have met this incredible young lady and her family,” a post on Winnipeg Livestock Sales’ Facebook page says.
Heidi Braun/Winnipeg Livestock Sales photo