Hi, my name is Mike. I'm Rachel's Dad. Rachel needs help.

So, a little background. In 2019 Rachel found a suspicious spot on her leg and asked her GP to look at it, she was 24 and he said it was nothing. A month later she noticed it had grown and asked again. Still nothing. Then a third time. This time she was immediately referred to a dermatologist who did a biopsy. Melanoma.

More tests, scans, poke and prods. They removed a fairly large chunk of her leg and found cancer in quite a few of her lymph nodes.

After 6 months of healing a 4 inch gash in her leg and 13 months of imunotherapy she was declared "cancer free"!

Through all of this she worked full time, helped raise her 3 year old daughter and got a diploma in nursing.

In the summer of 2024 after giving birth to her second daughter, she noticed a spot in the scar. The cancer had returned. Immediately they started working to irradicate the disease. First they cut out the tumour. Not wanting to wait for a surgical theater, they cut a hole the size of a door knob in her shin while she was awake and her infant daughter was in the room (with Rachel's mom). Scans, tests, bloodwork, worry.

This time the cancer had settled in her liver, spine and pelvis. Treatment started immediately, only the cancer had mutated, and treatment changed. the first treatment put her in hospital twice. The second did no better. By late spring of 2025 she was moved to a drug who's sole purpose was to prevent the disease from spreading, not to kill it, just to stop it. In the mean time the cancer was eating her hip joint and a vertebrea in her back. 3 surgeries later and she's in constant pain from her damaged hip. She finds it excruciating to walk up the hill from her daughter's school to the house. 1 very short block that's 1 block too many.

And now it looks like it has spread to her lungs. That means the treatment has stopped working. Her "last ditch effort" is failing.

On Monday March 9 we met with the Phase 1 Trial Clinic at Princess Margaret. Nothing currently available.

We're actively looking for answers and solutions, but not meeting much that is funded by Health Canada.

There is a treatment that is available outside of Canada that looks very promising, but its's $500,000 USD.

This time around she hasn't been able to work. Driving to Kingston from Tweed sometimes 3 times a week. Trips to Princess Margaret. The weight on her family knowing that she has no mortgage insurance. It's adding up. Rachel just wants to get back to raising her kids and nursing at QHC.

We need to build a war chest. All the funds raised will go to Rachel and her family. Whatever they don't need will be donated to Melanie's Way (making wishes come true for young mothers with metatastic cancer).