When Ed Andrus was told a double lung transplant might free him of cancer, he felt a sense of hope.
The doctors weren’t sugar-coating anything, though.
He was told the cancer could “come back with a vengeance.”
“Ultimately, it did,” he said.
That medical journey, while daunting, led him to where he is now: Mariposa House Hospice.
If it weren’t for friends and medical professionals, like Orillia’s Dr. Deven Bhatt, Andrus doesn’t know what his situation would be like. He didn’t know Mariposa House Hospice existed.
“I’ve listened to people I’ve been close with who have had to get their mom down out of bed, brush their teeth, comb their hair, get them into the mess hall in six minutes. Just true tragedy,” the 72-year-old Orillia man said this week from his room at the Severn Township facility.
He didn’t want to live his final days that way, and he didn’t want his loved ones to be burdened. So, when it was suggested he look into hospice care, he agreed.
“I came to terms with my own family and said, ‘Well, I think it’s going to be better for everybody if I make that move,’” he recalled. “I made it, and it brought such a sense of peace.”
He moved into the residential hospice on Brodie Drive more than a week ago, and it has changed his life.
“When you reach end of life, it can be a horrible time. It can be a wonderful time as well. I just wanted to come off the sidelines to say how at peace this place has left me,” he said.
“This can be such a sad time for people, but I have enjoyed an experience here that is unimaginable.”
The setting is welcoming, and Andrus can’t say enough about the care he’s been receiving from the people he has dubbed “Eddie’s angels.”
”That’s really what they are,” he said.
While taken by the experience, it’s still unfamiliar territory for him.
Andrus has lived an independent life rich with friendships and experiences.
He left Toronto in the early 1990s, after selling his family’s printing business, Dominion Press, and bought a condo on the shore of Lake Simcoe in Orillia.
A while later, he purchased a house in the Hawk Ridge subdivision, just down the road from where Mariposa House Hospice is now. It was a convenient spot for an avid golfer like Andrus, with a popular course essentially in his backyard.
He couldn’t be kept away from work for long, however.
“I wasn’t a guy that wanted to sit around,” he said.
He decided to start a stucco company, StuccoPlus, whose handiwork can be found on various residential and commercial buildings in the area.
“I didn’t have to do it, but I did it and I enjoyed it,” he said.
Throughout all of his time before and after moving to Orillia, Andrus collected friends and acquaintances. Many have called or visited him during his time at Mariposa House Hospice.
“We’ve sat here just laughing. Really. Can you believe it? Just laughing at stupid stuff,” he said with a chuckle.
Nostalgic stuff, too. A former colleague from his Dominion Press days brought him a business card from 50 years ago.
Coincidentally, the room Andrus is staying in is the one sponsored by his friend, John Mundell.
He was one of many in town who provided funding to help make the non-profit hospice, which opened earlier this year, a reality.
As he lives out the rest of his life in palliative care, Andrus is calling on others to not only educate themselves about hospices — like the five-bed Mariposa House — but also to support them financially whenever possible.
“Help is what this needs, clearly. Five units? Come on,” he said.
It’s been at capacity since it opened, which tells Andrus there is a demand for the service but also to see more beds made available in the area.
This story isn’t about Andrus. At least, that’s how he feels. For him, it’s about shining a light on Mariposa House Hospice.
“Nobody that reads (this) article needs to feel sorry for me, because I am just blessed. I’m calm. I’m so blessed to have found, No. 1, this place and, No. 2, a little town like Orillia. It’s been really one of the great things in my life,” he said.
“I just couldn’t leave here without at least making my thoughts known.”
