Brett William Forester

In Loving Memory of

Brett William Forester

Brett passed away peacefully in his sleep and went home to be with his Heavenly Father on January 4, 2026.

He will be forever missed by his mother Anita D’Hondt of Elmira and his step-father John D’Hondt as well as his step-brothers Ryan and Eric D’Hondt all from Lethbridge AB.

He was a beloved grandson to John & Sandra Rutherford of Elmira, nephew to Wendy Rutherford of Elmira and Brian Rutherford of Boularderie, NS.

He is survived by his father Jentry Forester (Cyndy) and half-sisters Sarah and Nicole Forester of Elmira.

He will also be missed by his grandmother Ingrid Forester of Elmira, aunt and uncle Mark & Julie Widmeyer of Harriston and cousins Deanna Widmeyer (James) from Toronto and Scott Widmeyer (Ciara) of Hamilton.

He was predeceased by his grandfather Wayne Forester.

Brett was an old soul, even as a young child. He had a lot of health struggles his whole life – he was born with severe congenital heart disease (TOF etc) and survived three open heart surgeries among others. He also suffered through lots of respiratory infections, Asthma, Endocarditis twice, Cardioversion, ADHD, Autism and at the end of his life Hodgkin’s Lymphoma which eventually metastasized to the rest of his body.

Even dealing with all of this, Brett was a VERY SELFLESS person who always cared about others and their feelings above his own so he always made sure to NEVER HURT anyone’s feelings.

He was extremely STRONG WILLED which was his best quality as it saw him through so many hardships. He lived at birth when science said he shouldn’t and couldn’t explain it. Many prayers went up for him and God wanted him to live.

Brett lived by his motto to “NEVER GIVE UP” and he never did; his PERSEVERANCE and STRENGTH served him well as he pushed his way through the everyday fevers and overall sickness he endured including the coughing and burning in his lungs, tachycardia and palpitations, unbearable pain all over and much more.

He NEVER COMPLAINED his entire life no matter what he had to go through and kept his great SENSE OF HUMOUR even when he didn’t feel like being funny.

Brett struggled with his independence as a child but conquered this throughout his cancer journey. He had a lot of time to think and chose to see the positivity in everything instead of the alternative.

He LOVED others with every part of his being and had a very close relationship with his mother and adored his Gramps who was his “Buddy.”

Everyone who ever had the pleasure of meeting Brett always felt that he was very SPECIAL, but Brett remained extremely HUMBLE.

He was taught many important values as a child, but his SAVING GRACE was him learning to talk about his feelings. He PERFECTED himself even more while growing up – he stopped lying, overcame depression and anxiety on his own as he didn’t want this to define him. He followed rules to the letter and stopped needing discipline at a young age. Furthermore, he learned to articulate himself well which was very useful when helping others- he would have been a great social worker.

Brett’s two most favourite pastimes- He was an AVID GAMER on many platforms and was extremely good at it, working through obstacles in his path, just like in life. He aspired to make his own video game one day, but never got the chance to.

When he wasn’t playing video games, he was on his iPad watching YOUTUBE, keeping up with politics, world events and of course watching YOU TUBERS talking about new video games that would be coming out, watching cooking shows like Gordon Ramsay, listening to music you name it he would watch and listen to it. He even used ASMR to fall asleep.

Brett was a computer genius and learned to be not only an amazing CODER but could PROBLEM SOLVE any issue no matter the amount of time it took to come up with the answer.

Brett also LOVED MUSIC his entire life and listened to music every chance he got throughout his day. It not only soothed him when he felt anxious or upset, but it also made him feel very happy at other times. It had very deep meaning to him. He even learned how to PRODUCE his own music using AI during the last 6 months of his life. It would take him several hours to produce one song but he would come up with all the lyrics, music and voices etc and ended up making 28 songs in total.

Brett always wanted to get into a sport when he was younger but never found one that he could relate to until later in his life… he found US COLLEGE FOOTBALL and then the NFL FOOTBALL which he found to be very enjoyable to watch… he loved the sportsmanship each team showed towards each other, if someone was injured… no matter if it was on the opposite team each player got down on one knee and prayed and it’s overall a very positive sport that will lift your spirits!

Brett was an amazing STORY WRITER and TELLER. He came up with so many different stories and saved them all on his computer or iPad except for his last masterpiece which he wasn’t able to finish.

The greatest achievement for Brett was him becoming a BELIEVER IN CHRIST! He always said that God and him were friends and he didn’t need to speak to Him daily because he didn’t want to disturb him. He knew God was busy with so many others. Brett always asked God how he was each time he spoke to Him and Brett wondered if anyone else ever asked God how He was doing.

Brett spoke with the pastor for over an hour one day during his cancer journey and the pastor said that Brett was an AMAZING PERSON who would have become a wonderful pastor himself one day as he was wise beyond his years and had such an incredible outlook on life. Brett just hopes and prays that everyone won’t take their lives for granted.

For those wishing to send flower arrangements: please send to 2 Grey Owl Dr, Elmira, Ontario N3B 1S3.

For those wishing to donate, a memorial fund for Brett has been set up by Brett’s mother — please click here to access it.

A Celebration of Life memorial service will take place this summer. Details to follow.