Shifting Gears and Planning for the Future
Published Monday, May 12, 2025
Laura Fralick embraces the future with a legacy gift to support local healthcare, including the new Cardiovascular Surgery Program.
My Take on Life, Motherhood, and Creating a Legacy
by Laura Fralick
I'm a planner by nature and profession, but the day my daughter was born changed everything.
The responsibilities and unknowns that come with motherhood can be overwhelming. I read all the books. I vowed to do things differently: to be present and navigate childhood alongside her.
Motherhood taught me to model resilience and inspiration. My daughter showed me the ability to love unconditionally. The whole experience led me to realize that things rarely go as you expect them to. Perhaps the best thing you can plan for is the unforeseeable.
In my retirement, I often reminisce about the extraordinary and defining moments in my life. My daughter is a wonderful person and someone I have come to admire. She is a strong and independent woman who is navigating the world with the tools I have offered her over the years. Letting go was hard, but with an empty nest comes the opportunity to shift gears and look at things differently.
That's a good guideline for life, too. In 2010, I had an unexpected health scare with my heart. Failing my cardiac stress test was a true wake-up call. It forced me to consider in very real terms my future…my friends and family…my community. I started to wonder, what would my legacy be?
When it came time to plan my estate, I knew this was an opportunity to create a legacy of my own. I made the conscious decision to protect the people AND causes that are important to me through a Gift in my Will.
For me, that's healthcare. I'm excited for all the new advances in cardiac care alone including construction of the new Cardiovascular Surgery Program. I want to ensure my family and friends are able to access state-of-the-art care services and skilled staff right here in Thunder Bay when they need it most. A Gift in my Will gives me that peace of mind – and the tax benefits help preserve more of my estate for my daughter and those I care about.
Some of life's defining moments overflow with joy. Motherhood is one of those moments for me. Life is about learning and growing, and I am grabbing on with both hands to embrace the moments that matter. That includes building the future of local healthcare with a Gift in my Will.
Did you know May is Leave A Legacy Month?
A Gift in your Will to the Northern Cardiac Fund at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation can help build and sustain cardiac care in Northwestern Ontario.
Questions? Contact Lee-Anne Camlin, Manager, Legacy Giving
Email lee-anne.camlin@tbh.net or call (807) 684-7110.
A Gift in your Will…your legacy can be a powerful force for good.