Hugs from Heaven

Sage and Stephanie with Angela Hospice Director
of Development Bob Alexander. Sage installed the Wii he
donated in the Care Center playroom.

Stephanie Bowers said she never wins anything – until now. It was actually October 25 that her ticket was pulled in the $1 Raffle at Angela Hospice’s Light Up a Life Auction & Gala. It was a bit of a fluke that Stephanie even ended up with a ticket. Construction had re-routed her trip to her regular grocery store, so she ended up at Busch’s in Canton instead, where Angela Hospice volunteers were just setting up their table preparing to sell raffle tickets.

Her mother, Nancy Rafail, had just recently passed at the Angela Hospice Care Center.

Stephanie and her mom, Nancy Rafail

“The day she passed away we had like 15 people, almost the entire family got to be with her,” Stephanie explained. “And she still knew and communicated enough, and then she was like, ‘Nap, time for a nap.’ And we were like, ‘You rest now.’ I left and she passed away peacefully a couple moments later, and we couldn’t have wanted anything better.”

So when Stephanie saw the Angela Hospice volunteers, she knew she had to talk to them and of course she bought a raffle ticket. It wasn’t until December that she realized she had won the grand prize: $1,000.

“I somehow missed the call back to say that I’d won,” Stephanie said. “I still have my little stubs...I just got a new wallet and I ended up keeping them anyways not knowing that I’d won, just because it was like a little reminder of that moment.”

Stephanie was preparing for her first Christmas without her mother, when she got the news she had won.

Stephanie's mother, Nancy Rafail, with Stephanie's
children (L to R): Sage, Terra, Aiden, and Jacob.

“Winning the raffle honestly felt like a big hug from her,” Stephanie said. “Both my husband and brother just said the same thing, like, ‘Oh my God, she just keeps giving.’ You know, because my mom was just one of those people.”

“She was our Santa,” Stephanie said. So Stephanie decided to take the winnings and split them up among all the grandkids as a gift from Grandma.

Stephanie’s oldest son, Sage, played Santa as well. He accompanied Stephanie when she came to Angela Hospice to collect the prize, and he brought with him their Nintendo Wii. He had noticed the Wii in the Care Center playroom had a broken controller, so he donated their Wii so that other kids visiting the Care Center would be able to play.

Prior to coming to the Care Center, Stephanie’s Mom had spent two months in home hospice care, with nurse Eric Simpkins as her case manager.

Stephanie and nurse Eric were able to reconnect
during her visit to the Care Center.

“He was so the right person for us and our family,” Stephanie said. When she came to collect her prize, Eric stopped by to chat with her and they exchanged laughs and stories.

“You were an amazing caregiver,” Eric told her.

“I think we made a good team,” Stephanie replied.