Melissa Buckley Fund

Hello friends, family and colleagues,

An exciting family and friends trip to the Dominican Republic turned into a nightmare very quickly for Melissa Buckley and her whole crew. Wife of Jeff and mom of two boys Sylas, 9 and Desmond, 12, Melissa and her family – Darlene, Chris (Sandra and Alice), Ken (Amanda, Abi and Jackson) and Nicole made their way from all parts of Ontario to the airports of Toronto and Montreal to make their way to Punta Cana. Another crew of friends travelled from Ottawa to bring the total travellers to twenty-eight. Emotions Resort didn’t know what was about to hit them.

Things got off to a little bit of a rough start with no airport shuttle waiting and didn’t get better with no room key for Darlene and Nicole on Day 1. No problem, said reception, just don’t leave your room! But that could only keep spirits down for so long and before long we had taken over the resort.

As we said farewell to 2022 on the beaches of Juan Dolio, we had no idea what the first 4 days of 2023 would bring. On January 2nd Melissa suffered what seemed to be an innocuous trip and fall. Some bruising but otherwise it was right back to the beach in morning.

But something just wasn’t right and minor symptoms, which in isolation would mean nothing, started to accumulate. By mid-afternoon on January 3rd Melissa was being rushed by ambulance to Santo Domingo with an unknown illness. After countless tests and transfers to multiple clinics and hours of waiting with no proper medical attention she finally arrived at the General Hospital located in Santo Domingo. It was determined that Melissa had suffered a major stroke which resulted in severe brain trauma. She currently is paralyzed on her left side and is unable to move her left arm and leg.

As we write this, Melissa has just completed a lengthy surgery to remove part of her skull to allow the swelling in her brain to subside and to prevent further damage to the unaffected left side. As far as surgeries go, there were no complications and went as expected. She will remain in a medically induced coma for up to 3 days and will need to stay in the Dominican for another 2-3 weeks possibly before being deemed fit for travel.

Thankfully Melissa has travel medical insurance but insurance as we all know only goes so far. Friends and family have already pulled together to support Jeff as he is about to embark a long road of recovery and rehabilitation by Melissa’s side. Accommodations are secured and logistics with the children seem to be in place for their return to Canada with family. But the financial burdens the family will face in the coming months at this point is unmeasurable.

As a result, the friends and family of Melissa, Jeff, Desmond and Sylas, wish to create this fund to show support and hopefully ease some of the stresses that lie ahead.

Any amount helps and thank you all in advance for your generosity and continued support.