I'm Douglas; I'm 54, a husband, a father of two, and recently diagnosed with medullary thyroid cancer. Medullary is a rare type of thyroid cancer (approximately 3% of cases) and spreads quickly compared to the more common forms. Unfortunately that has happened for me - by the time the cancer was detected, it had already reached multiple lymph nodes. Now I'm in a race against time to have the only viable treatment - surgery removing my entire thyroid along with all other detected cancerous nodes - before the cancer goes metastatic and spreads even further, dropping my survival chances significantly.

 

Regrettably, due in no small part to COVID, I've had several delays already getting treatment and the wait time in my area is months long. Fortunately, I have found a team of surgeons in the United States that specializes exclusively in thyroid cancers (the Clayman Thyroid Center), whose extensive knowledge include my rare type. Between their skill and being able to operate much sooner, my long term survival chances will be much higher over waiting further.

 

My surgery is scheduled for October 5th, 2021, and being from Canada I will have to pay the full amount "out of pocket", which is currently estimated as $27,595 USD. I am asking for your support to defray this cost; any amount of help will make a difference.