About Lauren Wilmot
If courage is grace under fire, there is no person who embodies the spirit of courage more than Lauren Wilmot. Just one week before her 17th birthday, Lauren was diagnosed with Atypical Choroid Plexus Papilloma, and so began her indefatigable battle with a particularly insidious central nervous system disease.
Despite a frightening diagnosis, multiple surgeries, and taxing chemotherapy and radiation regimes, Lauren refused to allow the disease to define her life. She remained enrolled full-time in Springbank Community High School in her hometown of Calgary, Alberta, and graduated with distinctive honours in 2012, after an incredibly challenging year. She successfully applied to pursue a degree from the Sauder School of Business, and moved to Vancouver in the fall of her graduating year.
Growing up in White Rock, BC imparted on Lauren a strong affinity for the ocean, and enrolling at UBC helped her reconnect with her West Coast roots. Her first year was typical of any business student. She lived in Caribou House in Vanier Residence, where she made some excellent friends and future roommates. She studied hard, went to parties, hung out at the beach, explored Vancouver, and further developed her innate sense of independence. She bore her struggle privately, and most who knew her then were completely unaware she was coping with anything out of the ordinary.
Lauren had a competitive spirit and true passion for sports. Throughout school, she was a setter on the Springbank volleyball team, and was involved in club volleyball with the Cochrane Jaguars. She was also an avid soccer and badminton player, and ran track and field. Being active was a major part of Lauren’s life, whether it was in organized sports or skiing and hiking with her family. In the summer, she loved swimming and horseback riding.
Lauren loved to travel and eagerly sought out opportunities for personal growth. In high school she participated in a language exchange program in France, where she lived for a month in Grenoble. She also volunteered in Botswana with Habitat for Humanity, and travelled extensively around Western Europe with her family. While extremely tough and always up for adventure, Lauren also had an appreciation for the finer things in life, especially food and cooking.
While Lauren’s life was cut short by her illness, she made an enormous impact on those lucky enough to count themselves among her friends and family. She had a remarkable ability to see the world through a wide range of perspectives; a talent that made her a natural peacemaker and negotiator. Her extraordinary capacity for empathy, despite her own challenges, made her a generous friend and skilled listener. No one’s problems were trivial to Lauren.
Lauren was an immensely kind, compassionate young woman with a quick wit and dry sense of humor. Her incredible capacity to endure adversity will live on in the memory of those fortunate enough to have known her.
Read MoreThe impact of your support
In honour of her memory and her enormous courage, fortitude and heart, the Lauren Wilmot Memorial Award will be established at the Sauder School of Business. The award will support undergraduate students in the Bachelor of Commerce program.
Gifts to this fund will pay tribute to the lasting positive impact that Lauren has had on family members, friends and community by supporting students who have shown exemplary commitment to their studies and who are experiencing significant adversity in their life. Recipients will be active in community and extra-curricular programs and will embody Lauren’s kind and compassionate nature and inner strength.
List of Donors
All Donors-
Julie & Eric
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Jacquie Brezovski
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Tim & Sue Grant
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Carol and Marshall Wilmot
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Jodi Gould
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Mr and Mrs Ross
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Eric & Julie
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Jacquie
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Tim and Sue Grant
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Jodi Gould
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Caitlin Schindler and Ben Randall
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ATCO Group