We are Mélisa Parenteau and Sébastien Joncas, the Ambassador Couple of 2025. Co-Owner of Signature Mélisa Parenteau Spa Urbain and Florist Fleur de Guy, all two located in Buckingham. We agreed to take on the challenge this year since the cause means a lot to us. We both had heart problems.
For Sébastien, he suffers from Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome. It is a disease that is present, from birth, an additional electrical connection, the appearance of different arrhythmias. These arrhythmias are caused by short circuits that occur between the atria and ventricles of the heart. Sébastien had symptoms of shortness of breath, fatigue, palpitations, difficulty breathing and sometimes chest pain. He was rushed back to the hospital in 2023 after having a very serious seizure and what followed subsequently an operation to burn the places where the connection was made. Its cause is genetics, he didn't even know it.
As for Mélisa, in 2021, she had two pulmonary embolisms. A clot that has risen to the lungs. They had to put Mélisa in the tube since she was no longer able to breathe naturally and normally. They had difficulty intubating her, which caused a cardiac arrest. 45 seconds. Fortunately, medical professionals were ultimately able to intubate her. She remained intubated for 6 days and on sick leave for 2 months. All this obviously caused a wave of shock for all our loved ones and made us aware of the importance of research, fundraising and our involvement. She could have remained scarred for life by this episode and even die from it. We are therefore very empathetic to the cause and spontaneously said yes when Jo-Anne asked us to be their 2025 ambassador couple! Our two work teams and our loved ones encourage us in our approach. We will work hard for the cause and do stimulating fundraising to raise as much money as possible. We believe that providing prevention to our loved ones is a proactive solution and will surely help people to be more attentive to the signs and symptoms they are experiencing.
We look forward to seeing you at the 2025 Robe Rouge Gala