<div>Below are some words from our friend, the incomparable Soledad Ronco. She is relentlessly helpful, outgoing and positive and is a friend to so many and a mother to two wonderful children. Please consider helping in any way that you can.
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<div>Thanks so much for checking in! I'm not sure what I can tell you, so I'll just summarize.
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<div>I was 38 years old when I was diagnosed in early 2021, a single mother with then two- and four-year old children. I am a water resource engineer, and was happily and productively working for the public service. I have been on Long Term Disability, financed by Canada Life, since May 2022. I would love to go back to work, and get my life back. I can't do that if the cancer comes back. My chances of continued survival are better if I remain on immunotherapy. Not to mention that my children need a mother. <strong>They are the reason I am still here.</strong>
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<div>I spent the seven months following my diagnosis in weekly chemotherapy, along with being part of a trail program for a drug called Keytruda, which is so new it wasn't then yet approved for breast cancer treatment.
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<div>I responded to chemotherapy and immunotherapy well outside the expected range; I was NED (No Evidence of Disease) after two months, in April 2022. After ten months, a metastatic brain tumour was <strong>accidentally </strong>discovered in the lower part of my brain, that incidentally fell within my routine PET scan's range - a scan that does not cover my head (despite that my cancer has a 20% chance of resulting in brain metastases!?!). Subsequent MRIs showed the presence of 4 tumours, which were treated with radiation. I have been once again NED since April 2023.
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<div>I would desperately like to stay this way. I'm waiting on a request for an appeal within Canada Life. My time is running out, last treatment is next week, August 15, then it's sink or swim time. Treatment is approximately $10,000 every six weeks.
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<div>I applied for coverage from my extended health, because that seems to be the most straightforward solution. My request for coverage of Keytruda was denied.
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<div>The Medical Service Plan (MSP) coverage lasts for 2 years - no Canadian needs coverage within those two years, it is covered by MSP. I have now exhausted that marker. My oncologist is Stephen Chia, Head of Department of Clinical Research and Distinguished Scientist, BC Cancer and BC Cancer Research Institute. He is the leading expert in triple negative breast cancer, which is the cancer I was diagnosed with. It is Dr Chia's opinion that I should continue on the immunotherapy, Keytruda. Dr Chia is not explicit or clear about much, preferring to couch his advice in probabilities and statistics. This is the first and only time in almost 3 years that I have had a clear affirmative from him.
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<div>My understanding is the federal protocol covers two years, because there have not been enough studies published, specifically relating to breast cancer, specifically, triple negative. There have not been enough studies published because there have not been enough survivors.
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<div>I am one of those people.
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<div>I am in the midst of compiling the medical letters to write to the Minister of Health; I will also be contacting my MLA. Getting letters from my oncologist is tough, because in order to contact him I have to deliver a hand written letter to a clerk who passes it onto his secretary where it may or may not be read/passed on; and if it is passed on, it has lain unread on his desk past any deadlines I may have been trying to meet with my insurance provider. He is a busy man, and there are many gatekeepers to pass. Fortunately I have been able to navigate this, for the most part, living close to BC Cancer helps. The system dismissed my found lump as "a breastfeeding thing," and it was only my mother calling on a friend that got me diagnosed - by then, stage 4: metastatic cancer, spread through my lymph system and my lungs.
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<div>The Cancer Agency is under resourced and poorly run. I could write a novel about the ways. They are providing what amazing care they can, but are hamstrung by beurocacy and underresourcing.
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<div>I have contacted Merck, the pharmaceutical company that manufactures Keytruda, but while they would fund me before the government approved the drug, I no longer fall into any program parameters that have. I am contemplating importing the drug from India. If you have any other ideas of how to fund this, I would appreciate it. Additionally, if the funding proves to be unnecessary, the money raised will go into trust for my children.
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Adayra Lopez Gonzalez

Elaine Mah

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Victoria Schmidt

Let's beat cancer with immunotherapy!

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platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

Eligible for Profile Share Badge

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

Support Comments Allowlist

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

checkout headers audience

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

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partnerId

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npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Let's beat cancer with immunotherapy!

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