Tribute

Karen Braun Wiens was born on April 15, 1975 in Vancouver, BC.

The family moved to Abbotsford in 1980 and started attending the King Road MB Church, during which time Karen accepted Jesus as her personal saviour and on April 23, 1989 was baptized on her confession of faith.

In her late teens Karen started attending Northview Community Church and became a member there on October 24, 1993.  She attended the Roaring 20’s young adults group and enjoyed many memorable retreats and events with them.

Karen married Harv Wiens on March 18, 2000. On October 31, 2001 they welcomed their daughter Abi into their lives.  January 2004 a second child was lost due to miscarriage. Then later that year – Nov 30^th they welcomed their son Nolen into their family.  In 2018 we as a family and specifically Karen would start a new journey.  A persistently swelled foot/ankle and some blood abnormalities prompted Karen’s doctor to send her for an ultrasound to see if there was some sort of blockage in the hip/groin area.  Through this they discovered a growth in her ovaries and the dreaded “C” word was introduced into our lives.  September 24 of that year a full hysterectomy was done as well as removal of her appendix.  All reports came back that they felt they had gotten it all.

Mid October Karen went for a follow up CT scan and learned that the cancer had unfortunately spread to her liver and she would require chemo treatments.

June 2020 a CT scan showed that more blood clots had formed and the cancer was now in the liver, lungs, spleen and kidney.  On the 23^rd of this month Karen started oral chemo in an attempt to slow things down.  June 28 Karen was admitted to Abbotsford regional hospital.  After undergoing many tests it was determined that she has suffered a few mini strokes.  It took almost a week before Karen was able to communicate with family again.  Although on antibiotics throughout that week there were still signs that something was not right above all the existing issues.  So, after more tests they found that the heart valves were leaking as they were infected and not sealing correctly.  She was started on a stronger dose of antibiotics.

Mid July the oncologist met with Harv and Karen and gave them the devastating news that there was no further treatment for her cancer.  In the weeks of no treatment due to the strokes and heart infection the cancer had more than doubled.  On July 19^th Karen made the difficult decision to stop all treatment other than pain management.  She was moved to palliative care later that week.  On July 29^th early evening Karen went peacefully to meet her Lord and Savior and where she will see her unborn child and dad once more.

She leaves behind her husband Harv, children – Abi and Nolen.  Her mother Anna, Sister Ingrid (h-Arvid), Brother Vern (w-Cheryl), parents-in-law, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law and many nieces and nephews.

Service will be on Monday August 10, 2020 (by invitation only due to covid)

Celebration of Karen’s life – Northview Community Church.