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We’re also remembering the life of our Nicola Jones Tuesday night who passed away October 19th after a battle with cancer. She touched so many lives from her family, friends to total strangers.

They all gathered at a fundraiser in downtown Hamilton tonight.

Those who planned tonight’s fundraiser for Nicola were hoping for the best.

Christina Mulder, event organizer: “When we started our process of planning the event and fundraiser our efforts were to provide Nicola with as much hope and support we could both financially and emotionally.”

But despite the outpouring of support Nicola received during her lengthy battle with an aggressive cancer, she lost her fight while seeking alternative treatment in Mexico. She was just 41.

No matter the outcome, Nicola said she wanted this to be a happy occasion.

Christina Mulder: “This is one of the first times we’ve been able to gather to remember Nicola collectively. But it’s also a celebration to see how many people came out tonight.”

About 150 people attended the sold out event from Nicola’s family and friends.

Jaclyn Colville: “The most important thing is to reminisce to talk about Nicola and how important she was to our community.”

To those members of the community that she inspired

Tammy Villeneuve was inspired by Nicola: “She was really incredible and I didn’t even know her so I’m really touched to hear all her stories today.”

Mike Jones, Nicola’s father: “People from all over the place strangers, colleagues, friends, it certainly makes me feel proud.”

Organizers were hoping to raise about ten thousand dollars and I’ve been told they already exceeded that amount. All extra funds will be going towards Christian, Nicola Jones’ nine-year old son.

Christina Mulder: “I think the biggest person we want to support right now is Christian, out of everybody, really.”

Mike Jones: “He’s resilient. I think with support from family and everybody else, I think he’ll be fine.”

Nicola is no longer with us, but you could feel her presence everywhere you looked, particularly in the content of the raffle that personified all the qualities that made her so special. Nicola was peaceful, strong and loved to have fun. Those will never go away.

Earlier I was writing the script for this report in the Morning Live office, a place where the crew, including Nicola would de-stress and just laugh. I’m in the weather office where Nicola spent a lot of her time. She wrote this here years ago and it reads: Speak softly, read lightly and laugh hysterically. — Nelson Mandela