Gordon Byrt

Hey my name is Misty Ramstad and I am doing this fundraiser on behalf of my dad Gordon Byrt.

This man is my rock, I would move mountains for him and anyone that knows him knows how loving, kind and caring he is. He’s the first one there to lend a hand, help anyone when they’re down and out, always checking up on people, honestly just a gem of a human being, I can’t imagine doing life without him.

My dad is currently fighting for his life battling lung cancer, colon cancer and bone cancer but yet still unaware of the location of the main beast as the doctor called it that is causing all of this chaos.

He has been in the Red Deer Hospital now for 2 weeks, has yet to talk to an oncologist or anyone for that matter regarding his results. We just want answers so that he can come home and that’s the main reason for this fundraiser, so that he has a home to come home to as well as alleviating other financial burdens caused by missing work for appointments and not being in good physical health.

It’s taken us 17 months to get here, 17 months of the unknown trying to make a living while battling doctors to get answers on what’s going on.

Aug 2023

Dad was having extreme abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, doctors said bloodwork was fine probably the flu or food poisoning.

Sept-Dec 2023

He was still having abdominal pain, and the pain moved into his shoulders he could hardly lift his arms, doctor after doctor said nothing was wrong and to take some fibre but no tests were ordered.

Jan-June 2024

Work was hit and miss, he was having major flare ups of pain and the exhaustion was so bad it started causing major problems with work and disrupting home life, doctors again said try more fibre and get some exercise.

July-Sept 2024

At this point the pain was unbearable, exhaustion and fatigue are severe, the doctors finally order an MRI.

Oct-Nov 2024

Just get MRI done, work comes up that’s to good to turn down, things are looking up diagnosis is coming and landed a job that would help immensely to get caught up from the time missed due to appointments and illness.

He heads to the Yukon to start a project and 10 days into work the pain turns from unbearable to intolerable..

The medic on site said “hospital immediately” it’s a 6 hr drive, do you think you can make the drive to Whitehorse or do you need a medi vac to fly you out.

Dad said if things get worse by the time he got to Mayo Carol would call the medic and arrange a medi vac.

Get to Mayo he’s stable things haven’t got worse so they continued the 5 hour drive to Whitehorse General Hospital, he gets to the emergency department.

Doctor sees him and says “he doesn’t want to deal with it, won’t sign off to go back to work and to go to his home province to get it dealt with.

Dad called his family doctor back in Alberta to get the clearance to finish the hitch (2 days max)..

His doctor said no you need to come home immediately, you have 2 gallstones over 2 cm in size causing all this pain and this matter is life threatening, his doctor tells him to be home on the first available flight as it’s to far in between hospitals that can help, get back to Alberta immediately.

Get back to Alberta end of October, waited weeks to see the surgeon, obviously not cleared to go back to work. The MRI that was ordered came back and they caught spots on the bottom of the lungs.

A week later X-rays, bloodwork and surgery were set for gallbladder, but a closer look at the lungs was required by the surgeon so he went for a CT scan of the chest and upon that found more spots on the lungs and in his bones.

Surgery for the gallbladder was cancelled and more tests and details were needed.

Dec 2024

Dad goes back to his family doctor and the doctor said this was bigger than his gallbladder, that he was referring him to the cancer clinic.

The referral was denied because more testing was needed.

Dec 21st

It was a couple weeks later a complete set of CT scans and bone density tests were done, later that night he ended up in the Red Deer Emergency

Dec 22nd

17 hours later they looked at the results of the scans and found a complete colon blockage, he was admitted into the hospital and a colonoscopy was ordered for the following morning and surgery came a day later.

Dec 23rd

Colonoscopy procedure

Dec 24th

Surgeon comes into the room and says it was a success and that they got all of it, they couldn’t see any problems so he should be home in a couple days (surgeon suspected it was a cancerous mass)

Dec 25th

He was feeling some pain from the surgery but was just feeling super depleted and defeated

Dec 26th

The doctor told dad he could go home on the 27th, the night of the 26th he spiked a fever, was vomiting uncontrollably and very dizzy.

The doctors said it was probably gas and he was sent for another CT scan, sent back to his room where they had to put a tube up his nose and down his throat to his stomach to help alleviate the gas and pressure, the pain was increasing and fever wasn’t going away.

Dec 27th

Morning of the 27th results came back that there was an abscess leaking into his abdominal cavity, a drain was put in using CT scan for guidance

Dec 28th-30th

Doctors are keeping a close eye on the fluid that’s draining they were concerned about the colour, infection sets in causing severe pain worse than any pain felt up to this point, they put him on stronger antibiotics and keep monitoring closely.

Dec 31st

The day continued with severe pain, very uncomfortable and his stomach still very distended, he was feeling pretty sad and by this point depression is kicking in constantly wondering if this is ever going to end, its heartbreaking to watch

Jan 1st 2025

The surgeon came into the room and said another surgery is needed to drain the abscess and irrigate the area, they needed to come up with another plan and try a new approach

Jan 2nd

3rd surgery completed, his abdomen was still if not more distended, the pain was intolerable and was super uncomfortable

Jan 3rd

Today was phenomenal, best I’ve seen him look and move in weeks, pain was well managed and the nose tube got to come out.

At this point he hasn’t ate anything solid for 2 weeks, popsicles. Jello, Ice chips and chicken broth were introduced at different times however being diabetic it’s been a job all on its own to keep his sugars at a normal level.

Jan 4th

I went back today and he was back to intense pain and the exhaustion is at an all time high, he can barely get out of bed but still seems to think he will be back to work soon …

I love this man’s positive attitude but the reality is his body is fighting cancer on all fronts, trying to fight infections while healing and still trying to figure out how he’s going to make it through this not being able to work.

My hope is that we can come together as a community and help this guy the way he is constantly helping others.

Support Comes in all different forms, just a simple share is appreciated, a visit if your in the red deer area, nothing goes unnoticed.

If you made it this far thank you for your time and thank you for being on this journey with us.

We love you dad, without a doubt you’re going to come out on top of this

Bronson, Hadley- Rae and myself are so blessed to have you in our lives. Your an amazing dad and a kick a$$ grandpa, we are rooting for you every minute of everyday and hoping you get to come home real soon.

Life might look a little different for the next little while but always remember the support you have behind you

Love you dad, your not going anywhere, if you are uncomfortable with donating to go fund me, please feel

Free to donate directly to dad,,,

[email redacted]