Joyce Bazinet “Why I Drive”

Joyce Bazinet, a resident of Surrey and volunteer driver, has spent her life helping others — and it shows.

“I’ve spent my whole life helping people.”

A former psychiatric nurse and school teaching assistant, Joyce began searching for meaningful volunteer work after retiring. When she discovered the Volunteer Cancer Drivers Society, she knew right away it was the right fit.

“It’s been one of the best experiences of my life.”

Joyce has been driving with VCDS for nine years and has completed nearly 3,000 drives, many of them for children and families navigating the unthinkable.

One journey that has stayed with her was with a four-year-old boy from Chilliwack. His mother noticed a film over one of his eye — it turned out to be cancer. Joyce drove them to appointments, including the day he received his prosthetic eye. On the drive home, the boy kept blinking. Joyce asked if it was uncomfortable.

“No,” he whispered, “I’m trying to wink.”

“I felt so honoured to witness his journey,” Joyce says, and to see him return to simply being a child again.

Not every story has a happy ending. Joyce once drove a young boy with brain cancer and his mother home from what would be their final appointment. The child slept quietly in the back seat. Joyce gently told the mother:

“You cry as hard as you need to.”

She did. Days later, the mother called to thank Joyce for seeing her grief and staying with her through it.

“These families are incredibly strong. I thought I’d see a lot of tears. I don’t. What I see is courage.”

Outside of volunteering, Joyce is curious and adventurous. She loves travel, learning about different cultures, and sharing stories. She often asks the families she drives, “What did you find funny about Canadians when you first came to Canada?” The answers, she says, never fail to make her smile.

She lives in White Rock with her sister, enjoys time with her daughter, family, and friends, and brings the same warmth and curiosity into everyday life that she brings to her drives.

Joyce is especially mindful of single parents. Widowed when her own daughter was just 14 months old, she understands the weight these mothers carry.

“Parenting is hard enough. Parenting while your child has cancer? That’s another level.”

She drives throughout the Lower Mainland, including BC Children’s Hospital, Surrey, and Abbotsford, and believes deeply in showing up for people who have no one else.

“The idea of someone going to treatment alone breaks my heart.”

When asked to sum up her volunteering experience, Joyce doesn’t hesitate: admiration, courage, and amazement — admiration for the patients and families she meets, courage in the face of uncertainty, and amazement at the strength people carry.

“It’s a privilege, and it’s more rewarding than you can imagine.”