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Family launches nonprofit in memory of brother

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Courtesy of Joni Burskey

The lift chair Louie Gazvoda’s family purchased for him to help relieve pain during his 4½-monthlong battle with liver cancer. His siblings recently launched Lifts from Louie, a nonprofit organization to provide lift chairs for cancer patients.

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Courtesy of Joni Burskey

Fort Cherry Elementary School first-graders donated funds from a service project to Lifts from Louie. They raised enough money for the new nonprofit to purchase a lift chair for a cancer patient.

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Courtesy of Joni Burskey

Louie Gazvoda enjoyed hunting and fishing. He traveled to Montana for hunting trips.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated. 

Joni Burskey said everybody who knew her brother, Louie Gasvoda, liked him. And he liked everybody.

“He was just something else. He was a true friend to all, and he was a great brother,” said Burskey of Gasvoda, who was self-employed in heating and plumbing. “We always said he kept people cool in the summer and warm in the winter.”

The five Gasvoda siblings were a close-knit group, and they were distraught when Louie was diagnosed with liver cancer in February 2019.

The family began a 4½-month-long journey with Louie, as he underwent cancer treatment and “tried everything (doctors) suggested,” said Burskey.

However, it was unsuccessful, and Louie died on July 17, 2019.

“It was devastating,” said Burskey.

Louie Gasvoda was a graduate of Canon-McMillan High School.

He enjoyed big game hunting in Montana, and hunted locally on his cousin’s farm. He loved golfing, fishing and spending time at local social clubs. Joni said Lou was in charge of the fireworks display at the annual Gasvoda Pig Roast and Family Reunion.

The siblings wanted to honor their brother, and were tossing around ideas when it occurred to Joni that one thing that provided comfort to Louie during his cancer battle was a lift chair.

During his treatment, tasks like standing up and sleeping in a bed became extremely difficult for Lou.

The siblings thought a lift chair would provide him comfort, support and dignity; however, Louie’s insurance did not cover the chair, and the co-pay only covered the lift mechanism.

The Gasvoda family purchased the chair for him. And, said Joni, Louie got much-needed rest in the lift chair.

Why not, Joni said, start a nonprofit organization to provide lift chairs for cancer patients who needed one?

So, in September 2019, the siblings began Lifts from Louie.

“It was such a great loss to my family, losing Louie. It’s been a process. Our ultimate goal is to help people in need who can’t afford a lift chair,” said Burskey.

The first-grade class at Fort Cherry Elementary School, where Louie’s sister, Jackie Gasvoda, was a teacher for more than 30 years before she retired, wanted to help, so they donated money from their annual service project to Lifts from Louie for the purchase a chair, which costs about $500.

“We were so grateful to them,” said Burskey.

The siblings’ plans for raising money for the nonprofit, including a golf tournament, have been derailed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are working to raise money for a cause that is important to them.

“The pandemic has made it very challenging. But our goal is to hold fundraisers and fill the need for those who need it,” said Burskey. “Nobody should ever have to worry about getting a chair,” she said.

To find out more about Lifts from Louie, or to donate, please visit the website at liftsfromlouie.org.

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