Help Ada Afford Childcare While Battling Cancer

On June 5th, at age 36, I found out I have rectal cancer. I had just given birth to my beautiful twins, Dean and Emilia (March 30, 2021), and I have a 2 year old son, Desmond. My cancer is Stage 3. It has spread just outside the rectal wall and I have a few questionable lymph nodes nearby. This cancer is usually found in older people and it grows slowly. So, I’ve had this for a while and for many months, my worsening symptoms were attributed to my recent pregnancy. On August 4th, my treatment began. I started with two weeks of chemotherapy and then began 28 business days of chemo/radiation. Once that’s completed, I will continue on with more chemo. Then, if all has gone well, I’ll have surgery to remove the affected areas. Once I’ve healed from surgery, I will still need more chemotherapy. I’m hoping to be cancer free in the new year. The doctors tell me it’s a 12 month process to full recovery. That’s 52 weeks until I’m better. 52 weeks where I will not be able to be fully present with my family. 52 weeks of fighting a disease - not healthy time spent with my children.

I’m facing a long steep mountain to recovery and I’m really scared. Grief doesn’t even begin to describe my feelings. This is going to be tremendously difficult: physically, mentally, emotionally and financially.

I’m starting this go fund me page with the hope and intent of raising enough money to hire a childcare professional to provide my family with the support we need while I’m battling this disease.

In helping us afford childcare, you are helping to ease the workload and financial strain on this struggling family.

The doctors say my treatment plan will take 52 weeks. That’s 52 weeks stolen from me and my children, fighting this disease.

Fighting cancer while caring for young children is expensive. Although my partner and I have tremendous family support, even family can only give so much before burning out, which is why Brittany and I have been looking into community supports for families battling cancer. It turns out, there are none. After doing some research on support for people in my position, we’ve found there’s a gap in service provision. Due to COVID-19 and our catchment area, many services found in larger cities are simply not available to residents of the Niagara Region (especially those in Fort Erie). Specifically, outside of private help, there are no childcare options in this area for families battling cancer.

In-home childcare for three young children is expensive. Brittany and I hired a postpartum doula to come to our house and help care for the kids and myself twice a week for four hours each time. Hearing our story, our doula (who usually charges $25/hr) has kindly agreed to a wage of $20/hr … $20 x 4hrs x 2 days = $160 a week. Sometimes this costs more depending on our need. We are hoping to raise enough funds to have help three times a week for 8 hours ($20 x 8 hrs x 3 days = $480 per week).

My oldest son already goes to daycare five days a week, which is another $125 a week. Due to my cancer diagnosis, we’ve had to increase his time in daycare so that I can attend my many medical appointments, and so Brittany can attend work full-time. While Brittany is at work, my parents watch the children. However, they are getting older, grieving, and have their own lives to manage. My cancer diagnosis is impacting all of us.

Here is the total cost of daycare and the total cost of our doula/childcare professional for the duration of my cancer treatment:

Desmond’s Daycare: $125/week x 52 weeks = $6,500.

Doula/Childcare professional: $480/week x 52 weeks = $24,960.

TOTAL cost for childcare = $31,460.

So, we’ve set a goal to raise $20,000.

Here’s a little about myself and my family. I am a chronic helper, and for years, I have freely and proudly given away my time to make this world a better place. I have donated my hair 6 times to charities that make wigs for cancer patients. My last donation was about a month ago. I also founded The Niagara Region LGBTQ+ Women’s Group to help local LGBTQ+ people find community. Through this group, I’ve helped hundreds of people build connections that have changed their lives for the better. I love to cook and have dreams of helping to feed children and youth in need. I am an animal lover and supporter of the arts. My partner, Brittany, also spends her time helping people. She works with abused women and for years has helped homeless people find shelter. Her favourite meal is my speciality garlic herb steak. She loves the summer, her house plants, and spending time with family. Desmond loves being active, splash pad time, dancing, kraft dinner and animals. Dean smiles all day and absolutely adores his little sister, beaming every time he sees her. Emilia has the ultimate poker face but finds pure joy when practicing sitting up and walking. We are a family that is full of love.

My time of helping others is now on pause as I find myself greatly humbled and in need of help. So, please, if you have any money to spare, consider funding my page. You will be helping to ease this unexpected financial burden on our young family.

Thank you for reading. Please share.

Ada