Support Alistair's fight against AML
Life can change in an instant: On September 5th, our brother-in-law, Alistair Todd, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).
AML is an aggressive blood cancer that requires intense treatment, including chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant for complete remission. Five days after being diagnosed, Al was admitted to hospital to begin his treatment and has since completed his first round of chemotherapy. Al’s hospital stay has been extended due to his body fighting multiple infections, including a serious lung infection. Once infections are under control, the hope is he can move home and begin out-patient treatment.
Alistair has some temporary benefits associated with a short-term leave from work, but does not have any long-term disability benefits. We want Al to focus solely on treatment and alleviate any financial stress, reality being leukemia patients face a long, hard battle, often unable to work for up to 1-2 years in some cases even longer.
Once Al completes months of chemotherapy, the next step will be a bone marrow transplant. Bone marrow transplants are only performed in Calgary, requiring them to rent a place for a few months during this treatment (estimate cost up to $10,000). They also recently found out Al needs to be on a medication for his lung infection for six months. The cost of just this one medication is $4000/month, totaling $24,000. In addition to the costs associated with housing, being off work long term, and medication there are many other expenses that add up such as: equipment, supplies, therapy, hospital parking.
We would like to note that this GoFundMe will serve as the primary platform for financial support. If you prefer to contribute in other ways, please reach out to us, Krystal or Michelle (Nicole's sisters). All forms of donations, no matter the size, will be greatly appreciated as the Al, Nicole and Thomas navigate through this difficult time.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for the immense support, the loving messages, gift cards, food and meals dropped off for Al, Nicole & Thomas. We will continue to post updates frequently on this page as well.
Lastly, if you are currently unable to support financially, sharing this GoFundMe page is also an incredibly helpful gesture. Please also consider other means to support blood cancer patients, such as donating blood (https://www.blood.ca/en) or registering as a bone marrow donor (https://www.blood.ca/en/stemcells/donating-stemcells/stemcell-eligibility-and-registration).