My 4 year old daughter recently decided to cut off her hair to donate to Wigs For kids. We also are hoping to raise funds for a long time friend who has been battling with a Tenosynovial giant cell tumor and has been off work while she cares for herself. She recently found out that her next step is chemotherapy and we are hoping to help her family with some of the financial burden that has been placed on them while she has been off work. Please consider donating to such a worthy cause. Much love.

❤️ Hi my name is Kelcey and I'm an RN in the north end of Vancouver island. I have a 5 year old son, who is the sweetest kindhearted little fella who is my world.

So I've had Tenosynovial giant cell tumor, or diffuse pigmented vilonodular synovitis since 2016. This condition is a benign tumor of the lining, or synovium, of the joint...and possibly the surrounding bones, tendons and ligaments. It can be either localized or diffuse throughout the joint- lucky me I've got the diffuse. The symptoms associated with this pathology are: pain swelling, stiffness, locking, blood in the synovial fluid and instability. This tumor thankfully does not metastasize to other organs so it is not technically a cancer, but it can cause bone, tendon and ligament damage as the tumor progresses or is left unattended. 90% of the time surgical removal of the tumor resolves the condition for patients, however 10% of patients have reoccurring tumors - I'm in this category...

I've had the synovium and soft tissue tumors removed from my left knee 4 times; once orthoscopically, and 3 open knee surgeries. With my last surgery in Feb of this year they had to remove part of my ACL and tumor from my femur due to disease progression. With my last MRI on Aug 15 shows that there is significant arthritis in my left knee due to tumor damage, as well as tumor and synovium regrowth. I've been told that knee replacement is not an option at this time... My soft tissue oncologist who oversees this condition would like me to start a monthly biological chemotherapy indefinitely to hopefully stall and reduce tumor size. This infusion will thankfully be done in Victoria and not Vancouver... With this being said it's still a 6hr commute for treatment, and a 6hr commute home. I have been left unable to return to the job I love as a community health nurse as I can not sit/ stand/ or walk for any length of time without being in significant pain. I did purchase an offloading brace which was recommended, which does help ease the pain to my inner knee, but the brace does not relieve the outer or middle knee pain that I experience. I have been off work since the end of Nov 2020 on medical EI and now long term disability while we figure out what the next steps are here which has caused tremendous financial strain. I want to thank the amazing support from my friends, family, and community for taking the time to read this. It's difficult asking for help, and any and all support does mean so so much to my family and I. Thank you! Thank you!