Help Lindsay & Raelee fight their battles

My name is Veronica Breen, and I’m lucky to have Matt and Lindsay Claridge as dear friends. Matt has been a long-time friend of my husband, Davin, and Matt stood beside him as a groomsmen during our wedding in September 2016. Two weeks later, Davin stood beside Matt at his and Lindsay’s wedding.

I’m writing this because Matt and Lindsay would benefit greatly and deeply appreciate our help right now.

If you know Matt and Lindsay, you know they are beautiful people inside and out. They are amazing parents to their 3 sweet children (Makena, Kowen, and Raelee), they are incredibly thoughtful friends to many and they are loving family members to their siblings and parents. Many of you are already aware of the diagnosis that their daughter Raelee had at the age of 6 months: Lissencephaly, also known as ‘Smooth Brain’. Raelee is now a growing 4-year-old but is unable to do most things that a 4-year-old can do such as walk, talk, and eat on her own. She has a feeding tube in her stomach where she is given all her medication, meals, and fluids. She is often experiencing pain that she can’t explain to her parents or doctors, has had hundreds of seizures over the years and is constantly in and out of the hospital (currently she’s been in the hospital since November 28th with influenza). The medical costs associated with having a child with Lissencephaly as severe as the case that Raelee has is significant due to necessary medical equipment and some medications that MSP, extended benefits or other Government plans don’t cover.

As if that was not enough for their family to deal with on the health front, they’ve recently been dealt another huge challenge. In August, Lindsay was diagnosed with breast cancer, specifically ‘Invasive Mammary Carcinoma’. She had a double mastectomy October 31st followed up by another emergency surgery on November 21st. After completing these surgeries, Lindsay was given the news that the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes which means she will require chemo and radiation. She will also need a 3rd surgery to remove her ovaries, then likely a 4th surgery to remove her uterus. Lindsay has been off work since receiving the diagnosis and won’t be returning to work at WestJet for well over half a year.

Raelee also has an upcoming surgery that will take place sometime in 2023. Her hips have not formed properly since she’s unable to weight bear so the 12-hour surgery will hopefully fix both sides of her hips. Her recovery will be long and slow and will require her to be in a “Hip Spica Body Cast” which is a cast that will go from her ankles all the way up to her chest, for 3 months.

The medical expenses for Raelee continue to increase with a new medication they are experimenting with that costs $300/month and is not covered by MSP, extended benefits, or any other Government program.

It took a lot of convincing on my end to have Matt and Lindsay agree to have a GoFundMe set up for them. They felt so much love and compassion from friends, family, acquaintances, and even strangers when they had their first GoFundMe after Raelee was diagnosed with Lissencephaly in 2018. When I asked them about doing another GoFundMe, the thought of friends and family being asked again to support them was challenging however, I’ve assured them that I know many people who will want to help them but are unsure how to – this will provide everyone with an avenue to show their love and support.

For this GoFundMe the money will continue to be used to cover medical costs for Raelee and to assist Matt and Lindsay in covering day-to-day expenses such as rent and groceries while Lindsay and Matt both continue to be off work. If you are able to support the Claridge family financially, I would be forever grateful.

Finally, I know that Lindsay’s Westjet family and Matt’s Firefighting family have already started supporting them, so if you’ve already shown support through one of these avenues, please do not feel like you need to also donate to this GoFundMe. And if you aren’t in a position to support financially right now, then please keep them in your thoughts as they go through this challenging year ahead. Thank you for reading.