Help Fund Dave's Cancer Treatment

Hi everyone, my name is Rachel. I met my husband Dave back in August 2006 as I was getting ready to start my final year of high school. I had never been in love before, but he quickly stole my heart. A short 4 months after we started dating, Dave was diagnosed with a rare cancer called alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS), and it has been a part of our lives ever since. Fast forward 17 years, we have accomplished so much together. We got married and have a beautiful, smart, and silly daughter, named Olivia. During this time there have been countless trips to sarcoma specialists in Toronto, many failed treatments, and continued disease progression.

We’ve always had a reason to hold on to hope that Dave would someday beat cancer. The last two years that hope has slowly been slipping away as the cancer has been growing and spreading more rapidly than ever before. While the cancer started off as a golf-ball-sized tumor in his arm, it is now in eight different parts of his body with over 30 metastases. Right now, we’re feeling desperate. We need a solution, and we need it fast. Dave is running out of time and options. His current prognosis is not good, and we’re scared of losing him.

Dave has tried every clinical trial available to him and currently the only option we have is to self-fund a treatment. Although this option is overwhelming, we’re grateful to have it. He has a fantastic oncologist who specializes in sarcoma and is extremely knowledgeable. The drug combination he’s recommending is one we feel confident about and it’s giving us hope again. However, it comes with a very large price tag. One of the drugs costs $6,000 per dose and the other is $12,000 per dose. Based on the proposed treatment schedule a year of treatment will cost $150,000 (which hours after launching the campaign was cut in half thanks to a compassionate funding program!) – and that’s just the cost of the drugs, not travel or other related expenses. This treatment is not funded by the government or our other health plans. This is an insane amount of money to us, but Dave’s life is worth so much more, so we are asking for our friends, family, and others in the community to help Dave continue to fight.

Dave is my rock. He’s my person. My best friend. And he’s an absolutely incredible father. I cannot imagine my life without him. Asking for help isn’t easy for either of us, but right now it’s necessary.

If you’ve been inspired by Dave’s courage and perseverance like I have, please help him fight. In addition to donating, sharing our story can go a long way. If you can donate, know that the money is going directly to the cost of the treatment drugs.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for supporting our family and giving Dave a fighting chance. So many people have been there for us over the years, and we are forever grateful for your love and support.

Rachel, Dave, and Olivia