Beating the Odds With a Little Help From His Friends

When Ray Larochelle bought Nobb Hill Press in 2001 and turned it into Weston Printing, Inc., he knew he would have to handle what small business owners face every day: long hours, tight profit margins, attracting customers, keeping their loyalty. He expected those challenges, and he wasn't daunted.

What he didn't expect was cancer.

A few days after New Year's Day in 2007, Larochelle was diagnosed with a cancerous lump in his thyroid. He began treatment in February, eventually undergoing 36 rounds of radiation.

"It was a bad feeling, because I didn't know if I was going to survive… if my business was going to survive," said Larochelle, who is the sole employee of Weston Printing.

Due to costs and his own poor health, Larochelle had to close down his printing business, for what he hoped would be no more than six months.

"It was a rough feeling," he said.

Larochelle contacted his customers, to inform them he would be shutting down temporarily. About half of his customers placed large enough orders to last them through his time off, instead of going somewhere else, he said, a gesture he appreciated.

Feeling tired and worn out from radiation and chemotherapy treatments, Larochelle wasn't sure if he would ever open again. He was draining his savings and paying high insurance co-pays and premiums, running up an out-of-pocket tab of about $10,000.

While he was undergoing treatment and wondering about his future, a group of fellow small business owners in Weston set their minds to help Larochelle get back on his feet; cancer be damned.

"When we heard about his horrible situation, we put together a fundraiser," said Marilyn Bibeau, an administrator at the Weston Observatory, and, at the time, president of the Coalition of Weston Organizations, where Larochelle was also a board member.

"We knew how valiantly he was trying to fight on so many different fronts," she said.

Together with Jane Saunders, owner of Strut, Sue Hickey at Citizens Bank, Henry Lukas of the Spellman Museum, Jennifer Ketchum at the observatory and Lauren Forcucci of the Golden Ball Tavern, Bibeau rallied the group to hold a raffle for Larochelle, in April 2007.

It all came together in just one month, Bibeau said. And the group was able to collect a lot of items to raffle, like a Vespa scooter from Herb Chambers, iPods, and gift cards to various restaurants and local boutiques. Police Chief Steven Shaw did the honors of picking raffle winners from the pot.

Both Weston residents and local business owners either contributed items or bought raffle tickets, or both, bringing the entire community together to help support Larochelle and his business, said Bibeau.

Altogether, said Bibeau, the group was able to raise more than $8,000, in just that one month, which was enough to help Larochelle with his medical expenses and even send him and his wife on a short getaway vacation.

"It was an amazing raffle. I was very, very proud of the Weston community that came together," she said.

Today Larochelle remains cancer-free, a status he's enjoyed since mid-2007. He gets regular check-ups to make sure the lump hasn't come back but said everything, so far, is looking great.

The fact that the community rallied around him still makes him shake his head in amazement.

"It felt really good," he said.