Team Greta Fund

Update: October 4, 2023

Please share this GoFundMe page with everyone so we can help Greta’s family keep her as comfortable as possible for her upcoming much needed pre-treatment and emergency surgery. Please see the update from Greta’s Team in this fundraiser. Greta’s spine support rod has broken and she must go back to Toronto to prepare for her biggest surgery yet. The family is

looking for somewhere to stay near Toronto General Hospital that is suitable. They have a hotel room for now but it is very expensive. Please share this fundraiser far and wide to raise funds to keep Greta comfortable and with her family for this challenging time. Their family is so loving and they need everyone’s help. If you know Heather and Tim, you know they are the first to offer to help others and they so deserve this help.

To stay up to date, please follow Greta’s journey on Instagram and/or Facebook at Greta’s Team:

https://instagram.com/gretasteam?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

https://www.facebook.com/gretasteam?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Thank you!

Cris and Lori Bartsch

Update May 24, 2021:

Greta will very likely need to travel to get the next surgery she needs to stabilize her spine. We are raising our fundraising goal to help pay for travel expenses and medical costs MSP will not cover. We have really appreciated everyone’s generosity and making it possible for us to be by Greta’s side. We continue to fight for her to get the best possible care in the next phase of this journey. Thank you all.

Original Message:

Greta recently underwent surgery at BC Children's to stabilize her spine that had been damaged due to cancer treatments. Complications from the first part of the surgery have left Greta paralyzed with significant pain and unable to continue to the next phase of surgery right away. To ensure that her family can continue to be by her side we are asking for your financial help. Greta is an inspiration and we know she can fight this with time and love from her family and friends. 

Greta was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma at the age of 5 - a rare form of bone cancer and underwent treatment at BC Children's Hospital in Vancouver, and in Boston MA, for treatments that were not yet available in Canada. Greta is now 11 years old and in remission but the cancer treatment has taken its toll on her spine. Greta's spine continued to crumble where the cancer was, where she had her previous surgery and radiation. Her spine was collapsing down onto her spinal cord which sits very close to her outer skin since the back parts of her vertebrae had been removed - she had some spinal cord compression which was causing her discomfort, loss of leg strength, and made surgery necessary now. 

The surgery was to take place over several days starting on March 22, 2021, but after the first day of surgery Greta experienced paralysis. An emergency surgery to find the cause of and alleviate the paralysis was performed with no immediate result. The remaining surgery is being postponed as doctors would like to monitor Greta’s condition. 

Greta will require more surgeries and has a long road of recovery ahead. Her parents, Heather and Tim and siblings Oceana, Isaac, and Hazel will be there to encourage her and love her. Their loving family and friends send encouraging words and love from afar to safely distance due to COVID.

Greta's childhood has been put on pause, all she wants to do is climb trees and play on monkey bars. We are hoping she can get back to the things she loves.

So this family can be together and help Greta heal and move forward we are hoping people will donate what they can. All funds will go directly to the family (Heather Munro and Tim Loewen) to help pay for the costs associated with her care and treatment over the many many months they will be by her side.

Thank you all for your support! 

https://m.facebook.com/gretasteam/