Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honour constituent Mike Sands, who passed away this month, four years after being diagnosed with ALS, a terrible disease that also claimed my grandfather's life many years ago.
Mike, a psychiatric nurse, was an active, athletic, politically engaged community volunteer who also made trips to Malawi, Africa, with Project Wellness to improve the lives of orphans by drilling wells for clean drinking water.
Mike lived life energetically and enthusiastically, but perhaps his greatest impact on those of us who knew him was his incredible courage and determination to embrace life in the face of death from a cruel, debilitating disease.
His wife Nadine provides an inspiring account in her upcoming book of how the family held on to faith, hope, and love as they learned to let go.
I invite my colleagues to honour Mike Sands' life by making a commitment to do all we can to find a cure for ALS.