Friends and family, far and wide.

As you know Ryan in now in Toronto, Canada, for his Stem Cell transplant treatment, following his Leukemia diagnosis (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia) in February of this year. While the transplant July 31st was a success, his journey is far from over.

Complications of the procedure have left Ryan completely blind in his left eye, which he is now receiving high doses of steroids for to try and correct. Hopefully, it works, and full eyesight is restored for him, but this does compromise his graft. On top of the blindness, some of the post transplant medications are causing severe mouth sores for him and he is unable to eat, swallow, and talk well at this time.

What came as another shock to Ryan and his mom once arriving in Toronto for the transplant, was the news that not everything they thought was covered by insurance and reimbursement as they had been originally told. They received the information that all would have to be paid out of pocket and then later submitted for reimbursement in late October of this year. Months away. This entire first month of staying in Toronto and its expenses are nonrefundable for Jackie, as Ryan physically resides in the hospital following treatment.

Following that, all transportation for Jackie and Ryan while he’s in hospital and following his release from hospital to the Toronto apartment will be coming out of pocket and will get expensive fast. He will need daily visits while in Hospital and be required to travel to hospital 3 times a week following his release while in Toronto, until late October.

Another out of pocket expense for Ryan is the first round of medications following his transplant, which are hundreds of dollars each, and he will have to be on multiple at a time, quickly bringing the total into the thousands. Ryan’s drug coverage pan cannot be billed to Ontario where he is residing for next few months following the transplant, so all will have to be sent back to New Brunswick to be approved and covered, then sent back out again to Toronto for him to receive the medication. All is expensive, and not reimbursed until late October.

Ryans journey is far from over, and any help for things such as food, transportation, medications, etc. is SO appreciated. Please make sure to share this everywhere so we can get Ryan and his mom all the help they need to overcome this difficult time and help in any way we can. Thank you all for the love and support.