How To Save A Life: GoFundMe for Alicia Mathlin

We're raising money for our beloved friend, Alicia Mathlin, who is currently recovering from emergency spinal surgery connected with her living with Stage Four Ovarian Cancer.

The road ahead is long, and her immediate future contains palliative radiation and chemotherapy: she is in deep need of our love and care to sustain her foundation of home while she mends.

A little background:

Alicia was diagnosed in June 2022, her shape, shifting, from an incredibly healthy and vibrant human being to immediately undergoing four rounds of chemotherapy to treat the cancer, which had by then already metastasized throughout her body and lymphatic system.

From there, our girl underwent a complete hysterectomy and partial omentectomy, followed by three more rounds of chemo at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto.

By early 2023, after months of intensive treatment, Alicia was in remission: cancer, however, had other plans and returned in June 2023 with a vengeance, declaring itself incurable.

She received emergency radiation due to debilitating pain in the back of her neck, which lasted for a stretch of time, offering her a quieter experience with pain, until October 2023, at which point, she was put on a palliative protocol to manage her pain.

In February of 2024, Alicia decided to try palliative chemotherapy to manage her discomfort, but her body didn't respond well, so she made the decision to stop treatment and turned to oncological naturopathic support and her own wellness practices.

During this time, Alicia grounded herself into her mission with profound dedication: her commitment to bringing mindfulness, meditation and peace into the lives of those around her continued in the form of her heart-led in-person yoga and meditation wellness sessions and her beautiful writing, which she captured in her first book Meditation Pusher The Future We Make Volume 001 published just after her first surgery.

She also continued her work for the Theine Foundation, which she co-founded to provide young people in underserved communities with access to meditation and mindfulness training.

Alicia was stable for almost the entire next year, however recently (in June 2024) the cancer began to spread rapidly, with her pain and symptoms increasing alongside her numbers spiking.

On Thursday, September 19th, Alicia went for a brain MRI, which showed the cancer had spread to her upper cervical spine so severely that she required urgent and aggressive spinal surgery.

As an entrepreneur running her own business, Alicia’s livelihood is tied to her creative output, which has been dramatically impacted by her illness and subsequent treatment.

There is a physical reality and in-person element to her movement and meditation teachings, which need to be adjusted as her energy shifts into the prioritization of recovery from surgery, as well as receiving stereotactic radiation treatments.

At this time, Alicia is learning how to navigate a very fragile body in her current reality and while she continues to be as focused as ever on her impact, we, her circle of care, want to gift her the ability to focus on tending to herself.

Everything given through this magical portal goes directly to Alicia, allowing her to do just that, without the additional burden of the bills and costs associated with everyday expenses and her recent move to Toronto, through which she has been financially supporting herself.

We'd like your help in covering her cost of living so she can focus on actually living and continuing to build her legacy.

To know the beam of light Alicia is, is to love her and feel her love for you: if you’ve been lucky enough to experience her presence, then you’ve undoubtedly been touched by her kindness, warmth and deep care over the years, or know someone who has benefitted from her brilliance.

She is a luminous being and the impact of her teachings and friendship is almost impossible to capture in words (but we promise we'll keep trying).

Alicia has faced all of this in accordance with her values: peacefully and with joy-full presence, incredible fortitude, a seemingly never-ending well of gratitude and continued generosity in her time and energy, despite the heartache of it all.

Please feel welcome to donate any amount that aligns for you at this time to support Alicia—and, if you are unable to donate, we ask that you send this along to folks in your network who may be looking to contribute to a worthy cause: in this way, our circle of care continues to grow.

We welcome all love, prayer and well wishes.

With our heartfelt gratitude,

The Ones Who Love Her