Two young boys from Nanoose Bay who lost their mother to breast cancer are embarking on a project to raise money for breast cancer research.

Eight-year-old Austin Smith and his six-year-old brother Ryan have created a set of angel greeting cards they will be selling in memory of their mother, who died of breast cancer just over three years ago.

Diane Smith was only 30 years old when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The struggle her family and friends went through over the four years Diane bravely fought the disease and the grief they experienced over her loss are the reason the Smith boys came up with the card campaign.

Austin says he knows how it feels to lose a parent to cancer and he doesn’t want other kids to lose their moms.

Austin and Ryan aren’t the first to create a lasting legacy in their mom’s name.

Their aunt Noni is the team captain of the Our Lady Di team, which has raised over $120,000 in Diane’s memory.

This year the team hopes to raise $20,000 for a new diagnostic device to detect breast cancer for Nanaimo Regional General Hospital. The team’s major fundraiser is a pub night and silent auction, which goes April 21 at the Bradley Centre in Coombs. Austin and Ryan will be at the event selling their angel cards for the first time and Austin says he hopes to raise a lot of money, just like his aunt Noni.

The boys’ father, Darren Smith, says the project wouldn’t have come about if it were not for the support and encouragement of Austin’s teacher, Ginny Brucker.

The Grade 3 teacher at Nanoose Bay Elementary School is the author of the book Gifts From the Heart — Simple Ways to Make Your Family’s Christmas More Meaningful, which she had published in 2000 to raise money for cancer research.

A primary teacher for more than 25 years, 17 of them at Nanoose Bay Elementary, Brucker says she was inspired to write the book during a Christmas concert at the school. While she was on stage looking out at the audience she was moved by a mom in the crowd who had cancer.

“I felt like there was an angel on my shoulder when I wrote the book because it just came to me.”

Brucker says Austin was motivated by her book which is all about sharing and giving and encouraging people to be good to each other. The inspirational book is full of family craft activities, recipes and art work from her students. Brucker received the National Council of the Canadian Cancer Society’s Community Champion Award for her support of cancer research. So far her book has raised $98,500 for the Canadian Cancer Society.

Brucker says when Austin told her he wanted to write a book on dinosaurs to raise money for cancer research she encouraged him to think of something different because of the enormous costs associated with publishing a book.

“It is expensive to self publish … at least $5,000 to print a book,” she says.

Brucker says Austin had done a beautiful painting of an angel at Christmas in class so she suggested the idea of angel cards. She then encouraged Ryan to participate and says it took about a month working one day a week after school to come up with a draft.

She says the angels have dark hair and eyes like Diane did and because Diane liked red shoes the boys gave the angels red shoes.

“Ryan drew his angel and Austin painted both of them.”

Brucker says they were assisted by one of the parents at the school who donated all the pre-press work. Lesley Seselja of Arbutus Bay Productions scanned the art work and laid it out for the printer.

The cards will be sold in a package of two for $5 and will be available at Nanoose Bay Elementary and at some stores in the Red Gap Mall. For more information on the angel cards you can e-mail ......