Alysha Danielle Ramus
October 19, 1994 – July 15, 2020
Our dearest daughter, sister, auntie, friend, and partner was ready to go where the wind would take her. Alysha’s spirit was strong, but her body succumbed to a rare cancer on July 15th, 2020 wrapped in the arms of her family listening to Be Humble and Kind by Tim McGraw and reading poetry from Perseverance by Margaret J. Wheatley.
Alysha was born in Terrace BC, grew up in Calgary, and completed her Bachelor of Nursing Degree in Lethbridge. Alysha was fiercely independent. She didn’t feel bad or pressured to be who she wasn’t. Who she was, was loving, always kind, and compassionate. She was the glue that brought people together and was really good at moving people out of their comfort zones. She wanted everyone to experience their inner childhoods. Alysha taught you to feel your feelings, let down your walls and let people in. She was so good at making you feel proud of yourself and fostering your independence.
This kind, encouraging and positive attitude never left Alysha even while she battled one of the rarest cancers in the world. She made people better. Nurses came looking for her, and she had an inspiring and authentic relationship with Dr. Omar Khan, her oncologist who worked tirelessly to battle the winds of change and give Alysha more time in this world. Alysha’s family will forever be grateful.
Alysha was one of those people who truly saw you. She knew your name. With her perceptive brown eyes, she’d look right at you, take time to acknowledge you; offer a smile.
Alysha was a healer. She was awarded a position to volunteer in Africa as a nursing student where she was moved by the generosity and openness of the people she met. People took her in like family. One of her goals was to return to Africa as a registered nurse.
Few people, if any could have worked as hard as Alysha did to achieve her dreams. She wanted to be able to help people and felt that goal would help her. Her cancer threw a lot of obstacles in her path but with the support of her family, Dr. Omar Khan, and Dr. Shannon Spencely from the University of Lethbridge, Alysha convocated March 11, 2020. Convocation Ceremony. https://globalnews.ca/news/6666871/calgary-woman-with-terminal-cancer-graduates-with-nursing-degree/
Alysha’s personality was a product of herself. She had so many different ways of being creative. Alysha loved to dance, competing in Irish Dance and as a country ballroom dancer, qualified for the World’s Dance Competition in Nashville. She was a cross-stitcher, quilter, gamer and avid reader. She got her dad roller-skating, her family and friends hiking and brought many of us together over game nights. Alysha loved: Disney, dinosaurs, Lego, puzzles, ordering in food, big TVs, cheap movie nights and movie theatre popcorn.
Alysha not only helped people grow she walked dogs, rescued pets, and rehomed them. She volunteered at the Lethbridge Humane Society. She focused her attention on those cats and dogs that needed more love than most, texting everyone she knew, to find them a forever home and worked hard to build a relationship with Nibby the cat who wouldn’t let anyone touch her. Nibby’s at home with Alysha’s mom.
Alysha leaves behind to mourn: her mom and dad Michelle and Ken Ramus, her brother Zachery and his partner Tianna, and nephew Keegan, her sister Paige and nieces Kennedy and Raelynn, as well as Alysha’s partner Nik, her Grandpa Bud, and a great many aunties, uncles, cousins, and friends. Alysha was our knight in shining armour when we didn’t know we needed it. She was my best friend.
Flowers are lovely, but Alysha’s wishes were for people to get out to the mountains, be in nature and experience them there. As Alysha’s final gift is to donate her body to science so that someone else can beat the cancer that beat her, she has asked that donations be made to The Angiosarcoma project instead. (Link will be added soon)
Raven, Teach Me to Ride
The Winds of Change
Perch where the wind comes at you full force.
Let it blow you apart till your feathers fly off and
you look like hell.
Then abandon yourself.
The wind is not your enemy.
Nothing in life is.
Go where wind takes you
higher lower
backwards
The wind to carry you forward will find you
when you are ready.
When you can bear it.
Margaret Wheatley
