Radiation treatment

Hi, my name is Eric, and I'm asking for help to get me to Edmonton for six weeks of radiation treatment one of the last steps for my stage 4 tongue cancer.

Our family has been in Fort McMurray since May of 1995, we moved here from Calgary to give our children Kristina and Ricky a better life.

Since 2016 we have had so much happen our daughter Kristina lost everything in the fire, she did not have renter’s insurance and Red Cross only gave them $2500. In 2017 I fell ill and was not able to go back to work. Denise’s brother was diagnosed with bone cancer and had to undergo years of radiation that kept the cancer at bay and in August 2020 he lost his battle. We have had 2 house fires and with shady contractors we still have some work to do in the house. Denise has been in and out of the hospital since October 2021 with congestive heart failure, complications with her diabetes and difficulty breathing. In November 2022 after several tests, lung biopsy all done in Edmonton she was diagnosed with a terminal illness severe pulmonary fibrosis and pulmonary hypertension. There is no cure for pulmonary fibrosis, and the only treatment is oxygen 24/7. She tried to go back to work but after a few weeks it was just too difficult to manage. It was the hardest thing she ever had to do because she had been taking care of herself financially since the age of 17. She went from being able to take care of herself to having a monthly income on CPP disability of $1413. Her medications alone for her diabetes and heart are over $300 a month.

In December of 2022 I continued to complain of mouth pain and visited our family doctor. The doctor told us that he thought it looked like cancer and after getting all the tests done in Edmonton, I was diagnosed with stage 4 tongue cancer. I opted to go with surgery and in July I underwent an 18-hour surgery where they removed my tongue, over 90 lymph nodes, and had an incision from my hip to my knee We don’t have family in Edmonton, so our daughter Kristina volunteered to be with me during the surgery and recovery period. This weighed in heavily financially for the whole family. Kristina took time off work and received minimal critical care benefit.

I still need to complete 6 weeks of radiation treatment in Edmonton where I will go for radiation 15 minutes each day.

I will not be able to go through with the last step as we are financially drained and are already in debt for over ten thousand dollars from the treatment in July and August.

Any amount would be appreciated.