Do it 4 Love Foundation

Hey everyone, my name is Hema (I also go by the name Amanda), and my family and I would like to thank you in advance for your love and support in our journey to beat cancer. In early July of 2017, I was diagnosed with a very rare cancer called Desmoplastic Small Round Cell Tumor Cancer. Unfortunately, I found out about it at a late stage and given the aggressive nature of the cancer, the disease was progressing rapidly. To make matters worse, the cancer I have is so rare that out of the 300 million people living in the USA, only 20 are diagnosed with this type of cancer a year. Scary, I know!   Since being diagnosed my life has become more challenging with each passing day. Aside from the excruciating pain that I feel, I've had to deal with the financial burden of medications with little assistance from compassionate care and government programs.  What's even more stressful is that my chemotherapy drugs are not covered and these are extremely costly.  A lot of compassionate care programs have limited funding which is often shared globally, so I've been spending hundreds of dollars out of my own savings.  To make matters worse, programs like unemployment insurance (EI) only cover up to 15 weeks at 55% for illness. After that one must apply for long term disability which takes a total waiting period of 1 year to get paid if you are approved. If all my income runs out by that point, I would have to wipe out all my savings and potentially look into welfare. Dealing with financial stress has made this entire journey so much more painful that I have broken down many times when thinking of it.  Other increased costs I have been faced with include grocery bills, countless hospital parking tickets, transportation (I am constantly commuting back and forth from Mount Sinai and Brampton)- the list goes on. I've tried saving as much as I can wherever possible (ie. downgrading my cellphone plan, only spending on basic necessities) but there is only so much I can do. My parents have to work overtime to help me with bills and can't afford to take time off work to care for me at home. I am constantly advocating for myself when dealing with my nursing agency as I can't afford medical equipment and need as much PSW (personal support work) as I can get. Had I been a full time worker at my previous job I would have had help in terms of medical and dental benefits but unfortunately I was on a contract- so I have absolutely no financial help there! Since becoming a cancer patient I have learned how expensive health care actually is in Canada. It seems like we have a lot of financial support but the truth is, we don't, ESPECIALLY if one does not have health insurance through their workplace.  I was told by my social worker that I can always ask friends and family for support, especially while waiting the full year potential long term disabililty support. Your donation would help my family and I in so many ways and give me the strength I need to focus on the more important issue- survival! I am so grateful to everyone who has helped me emotionally throughout this journey and once I am better I hope to start my own charity and support group to help others going through cancer.  Thank you x infinity for your support.  -Hema https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmoplastic_small-round-cell_tumor https://www.mdanderson.org/cancer-types/desmoplastic-small-round-cell-tumors.html