Cindy Murdie

Cindy Murdie has helped raise tens of thousands of dollars towards the fight against cancer for the past decade in memory of her son Eric, who passed away from the disease nine years ago. 

Cindy formed a team to participate in the Edward I. Moses Walk/Run, an annual fundraiser held by the St. Lawrence County Cancer Fund, a year after Eric’s death. Since it was formed in 2009, Team Eric has raised over $100,000 to date and was one of the first teams to raise over $50,000. The money goes towards the fight against cancer in St. Lawrence County. 

The owner of Cindy’s Cake Shop in Canton, Cindy also tries to inform people about the resources in the community available to help ease the burdens of a cancer diagnosis. While Cindy and her family received support when faced with her son’s cancer diagnosis, they weren’t fully aware of the local organizations and services that can offer assistance to families battling cancer.

“The main part is trying to inform. People come to the cake shop all the time and I’m able to help educate them on what’s available in the area,” Cindy said. “I try to advocate so if people come in and they have breast cancer then I have folders here from the Gouverneur Breast Cancer Fund, or if they are traveling I can try to point them to Ryan’s Wish Foundation, or in the right direction. It’s good to be able to help people.”

Cindy’s efforts to educate individuals and families facing a cancer diagnosis also fulfills a wish of Eric’s. 

“When Eric was going through it, and he went through it twice, both times the community did a couple different fundraisers for him and helped him out so he didn’t have to worry about expenses,” she said. “When he got better he wanted to do that for people, so we are doing it for him.”

Cindy also promotes local fundraisers and jamborees to help people with cancer by accepting donations at the cake shop.

“It’s just good to be able to help people and keep Eric’s memory alive and make him proud,” she said. “If you can apply what people have done for you and help people, they can pass it on to the next person. Until Eric had passed we didn’t know anything about the walk, so it’s good to keep people informed and if their loved one passes they can go on to do something for someone else too."