It's hard to believe it has been five years since a train collided with the vehicle being driven by Weyburn's Kailynn Bursic-Panchuk, who passed away in the hospital on the day after her 17th birthday. 

This Monday would be her 22nd birthday, which is why the Sharing Kailynn's Sunshine Online Auction will run once again this weekend on Facebook.

Her mother, Sandra LaRose, President and Founder of Sharing Kailynn's Sunshine, and road safety speaker, started the organization in 2020.

"So this is the fourth one, and what seems to be so far the biggest one," she noted. "The support we got year to year is what makes us able to do this."

"Initially, when I first started this, it was just a way of keeping Kailynn's compassionate and empathetic way of thinking and her loving heart, even though her heart stopped," she shared. "It's to honour her. It's all about her, and it's what she would have done. She would give you the shirt off her back."

LaRose said most of the organizations at the beginning were relative to her accident and all of the happenings around it, such as the Ronald McDonald House, Inclusion Weyburn, and the Moose Jaw Cat Rescue. 

"But Kailynn is much more than her death and her accident, and she was passionate about a lot of things. She was the one who would lift you up if you were down, she would call you beautiful when you thought you were ugly. She would make you laugh when you had a tear running down your face."

"So we just search for organizations and events we feel reflect something that Kailynn would have been passionate about. So it's just different things that just embody Kailynn. This year, our recipient is actually victims of sexual abuse," she explained.

"When somebody presents to the hospital after being sexually assaulted, they are matched with a nurse from SANE, a Saskatchewan Health Authority program, and it's the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners. These nurses are specially trained to counsel, and perform the forensic examination, but more importantly, support a victim from the time they present at the emergency room and afterward, and all through the time, it could take two hours, it could take 15 hours. It depends on the severity of the assaults."

One hundred percent of the proceeds from this weekend's auction will go toward Sweat Suits for Survivors, which will provide clothing to the victims right there at the hospital.

"If you file a report with the police, they perform the forensic examination and they take your clothing for evidence. So currently the nurses search the hospital lost and found for clothing, or they get used hospital scrubs to be sent home in. So this is Kailynn's warm hugs to them, to know that somebody is on their side. Somebody is there supporting them, and although right at that moment, they may not feel like everything's going to be okay, there's people that love them. It just helps to give them back some dignity and will help initiate, hopefully, a healthy road to recovery." 

"So what we plan on doing after we raise the funds and we know what money we've made, then we are going to start researching and finding suppliers and we are going to buy sweatshirts and sweat suits in a variety of sizes. Each piece of clothing is going to be wrapped separately in a plastic bag that's sealed, has a Sharing Kailynn's Sunshine sticker on it, and we will present all of these sweat suits to SANE, who will then be able to very easily have on hand clothing to give to the sexual assault victims when you present as a victim to the emergency room."

With between 120 and 150 sexual assault victims a year, Saskatchewan has the highest rate of domestic violence in all of Canada. 

LaRose said the project is the brainchild of Hanna Grieve, who was Kailynn's best friend. 

"She is one of the strongest girls I know, and for her to think of this and think things out so thoroughly and explain things to us and put us into contact with a nurse from SANE, so I could have the proper wording and everything is just, I mean, hats off to Hannah," LaRose commented. 

She said mothers tend to be the first ones people think of when a child dies.

"But there's dads, there's grandparents, there's sisters, there's brothers, there's cousins, there's aunts, uncles and friends, and especially when it's somebody who's 17 years old when they die, that changes the whole trajectory of the friends that are close to them," she described. "There's a fork in the road right there. So which way are you taking? I know that Kailynn is proud of everything that Hannah's done, and I know Kailynn's proud of everything that I've done, and what we've done as an organization."

"Just telling this, I feel like I've got Kailynn's arms wrapped around me hugging me. It's just a warmth."

LaRose said while this is a difficult week for her, she purposely holds this auction around Kailynn's birthday. 

"I always said Kailynn always did things 'full throttle', and she went for a full circle. Born August 21st, died August 22nd. There's always that heartbreak there, but I heal from doing everything that I do to honour Kailynn, whether it's standing in front of a high school of 600 students telling them to stay off their phones with my presentations, or if it's through work with Sharing Kailynn's Sunshine or Operation Life Saver, or even my work at Ignite, it's just fulfilling."

She said her bucket can be filled, even though there's cracks and holes from losing her daughter. 

"She's still around. Her energy is on fire, and she's strong. She was strong when she was living and she's still strong," she shared. "I knew very early on after losing Kailynn that I needed to live and I needed to live more so to honour her and respect her, because I know that if I had taken that other fork in the road, she'd still be with me, but she would be struggling still, and I don't want that. I want her to be free and I want her to just shine down and know that I'm living. I don't mean living as in I haven't died, but I'm living as in, I can smile without guilt. I can laugh without guilt. I can enjoy life and I don't feel guilty about it. I don't ever forget about her.  I talk about her every day. She was part of everything that I do, and am, and even my grandbaby that's going to be coming at the end of September, that little girl is going to know who her auntie was."

The auction is live now, find the link HERE. Items include Aqua tickets, Rider tickets, various items for homes, body care, and more. There are also decks of cards for $5 that are simply to purchase or to pay forward to be donated to senior living facilities.

Listen to the full audio below (recorded Thursday, August 17th) from Sandra LaRose. 

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