In October 2024, The Citizen ran a story about an inspirational young warrior by the name of Maxwell Bilodeau. After a two-and-a-half-year battle with cancer, his fight ended and he left this world.

It was the courage and positivity he demonstrated that won him the name “Mighty Max” for everyone who knew him, including his cancer care team.

In memory of Mighty Max, the Bilodeau family is hosting a CancerCare Manitoba fundraiser on June 30 at Maxwell’s Golden Corner located at 37 Main Street in Sperling, Manitoba.

From noon until 5:00 p.m., guests will enjoy lemonade, freezies, hotdogs, and Roxy’s fresh-cut French fries, as well as a tour of the site’s newly renovated chapel.

This includes a view from the top of the belltower, the portion of the chapel that Maxwell helped renew and the place he once dubbed Mighty Max’s Castle Tower.

Maxwell’s dad, Paul Bilodeau, has a family history with this church going a long way back. In the 1930s, his grandfather built the spire, transforming the building from a school to a church. Bilodeau’s grandmother was the first to get married there.

 When the church disbanded in the 1980s, Bilodeau’s grandmother purchased the building and it became the Golden Corner, a community gathering place.

In 2023, Bilodeau and his father purchased the building and, together, began the restoration process. 

An old ladder and hatch going up to the belltower were removed and a staircase installed. A walkway was constructed around the exterior of the belltower to provide a bird’s eye view of the area.

The spire was completely redesigned and the metal clad roof revitalized with a coat of gold paint. The missing bell was replaced with a brass antique.

Proficient in metal casting, Bilodeau constructed more than 100 statues to surround the belltower, including an army of soldiers and figures of Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and St. Anthony each facing a different direction on the compass.

Bilodeau treasures his memories of Maxwell tagging along to Sperling, excited to help his father with the project.

“At that time, Maxwell was doing very well,” Bilodeau says. “He had gone through chemo and we thought he’d beaten cancer and would have a long life. I became really passionate about this [project], kind of a giving back to the universe. A paying-it-forward type of thing.”

Now, in the months following Max’s passing, the Bilodeau family is finding new ways to give back through support for the team of professionals that make up CancerCare Manitoba.