Julian's fight against neuroblastoma cancer

On May 9 2023, our lives changed forever. My family and I had just moved to Ottawa from Alberta a year ago and therefore, don't have a family doctor. It all started when our eldest son Julian who is 3 started experiencing an on and off again fever and stomach ache for about a week. Since we didn't have a family doctor, we decided to take him to CHEO to get looked at. As any parent would have thought, I figured it was just a cold or flu virus of some sort... next thing we knew our son was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma cancer. This type of cancer affects the neural cells in your bones and is rare in pediatric patients compared to other cancer types.

On May 14 Mother's Day this momma's heart broke when I was informed that an MIBG scan, determined his level was cancer was high risk with a 50-60% survival rate.

His treatment plan consists of 6-8 months of chemotherapy, multiple outpatient visits from the hospital, and stem cell and bone marrow transplants from Sick Kids Toronto. The total span of his treatment is 18 months.

After finding out about his diagnosis I had to stop working to care for Julian. Previously, I was on maternity/parental leave for my youngest son but chose to return early. I had only worked 4 shifts before finding out. When Julian was diagnosed the doctors mentioned that there is a family caregiver benefit that I could try applying for to remain having income from home. I wasn't sure if I would have been eligible since most EI goes based on hours and I had just started working again, so I made a call to EI Canada with my husband for reassurance to see if they thought I could be approved. We spoke to 2-3 different agents all with their own opinions but came to the same conclusion that they were confident that I would be approved as I could just carry on from my first claim. In May I applied although, it wasn't until July that I learned that they determined I was uneligible. I called to ask what happened and informed the agent about the past agent's comments and all the gentlemen could tell me was that the previous agents were wrong.

After communicating with the family, our next steps are filing for reconsideration and trying to get a hold of an MP. With our situation, it would be more beneficial if I were the person to stay home to care for our son because my husband recently started an apprenticeship program that has the potential to create a better life for our family. However, if it is determined that I still cannot be approved for EI I will need to find employment again because my previous position with my employment had to be filled. However, the issue with that is Julian has very frequent appointments and if I were to work full time my husband would have to apply for EI and stop his apprenticeship but if I work part-time he could continue working although I would have reduced hours as well as pay and simply enough in a city like Ottawa it is a challenge for anyone to survive off of minimum wage let alone a family of 4.

Any help would be appreciated and any funds contributed would go towards Julian's treatment, special foods, travelling expenses and medicine.