It started with a young woman, Shawnna, at age 28, discovering she had advanced cervical cancer, with a grim outcome right up until now where a still young woman finds she’s beaten cancer, but now life has beaten her. After fighting very hard to survive with a deep desire to return to a life of working, giving to her community, and having a family with her husband, she discovered her life would be saved but everything else would be taken from her. The cancer journey and the aftermath were simply too much for her young  husband, who struggled  to stand by her through the journey. Shawnna had chemo and radiation together for weeks at a time and when her doctors decided the treatment looked like it had worked a sigh of relief was forthcoming. But 2 years later she also had to have a hysterectomy, and by the start of the New Year her marriage had dissolved. Shawnna not only had lost her health and vitality, she had also lost the ability to have a family and her husband. She was left with serious side effects from her treatments that involved hip damage, bone damage, burned bowel, burned bladder, nerve damage, and a host of other long-term serious conditions. This also meant a ton of prescriptions. But this was a young woman that was a fighter, she was strong in heart even though she was weak in body, and so she headed back to work long before the doctors recommended. In fact, they had recommended she not return to work because she simply wasn’t healthy enough to. But one must eat and pay bills and live, which she struggled to do, every single day. While her ex moved on quickly, living the life they had built without her. Considering she worked so her husband was able to go back to school and finish his trade, and then it was to be her turn (which never happened because of cancer), Nope instead Shawnna didn’t dwell she just put on her big girl panties and tried to move forward. Shawnna had been working and managing retail stores since the age of 15 and had just made a career move into landscaping a couple of years before her diagnosis. In fact, her Oncologists, believe her physical health from doing heavy, hard physical work is what had ultimately saved her life. All the muscle on her body helped stave off death. During treatment she had gone from a solid 140 pounds of muscles to 80 pounds. She had never missed a day of work, not even in the beginning of her illness. She showed up every day at work while doctors kept telling her she was just run down from having a bad, drawn out cold/influenza, even a misdiagnosis of strep and mono until finally one doctor looked hard enough to solve the mystery. In fact, she received her diagnosis while she was driving her crew to the next job site. Even after starting treatment she hoped to return to work quickly, which of course never happened. When she was hired at Costco in 2015 she was over the moon. She couldn’t wait to start and looked forward to every shift, even if she was only able to work part time. She found herself struggling slightly but still when a permanent part time position became available, she excitedly applied and got the position. This also now meant a little bit of prescription coverage, which was very helpful. Many of the drugs Shawnna needed were not covered by Pharmacare.  The universe had other ideas for what Shawnna’s future would look like, and none of it nice. She found herself getting weaker and weaker as time went on, dealing with growing side affects from her cancer treatments, that work simply made worse. Her doctor ordered she quit working, which was a difficult pill for her to swallow. She did qualify for her CPPD (Canada Pension Disability), but that with her small support payment left her living far below the poverty line. Shawnna was extremely disappointed she wouldn’t be able to work, but she’s also a talented artist and so she has been trying to make a little bit of money to help her pay the bills, she grows her own food, and does her best to live a simple life, while trying to support other young adults dealing with cancer under the age of 30, especially through YACC (Young Adult Cancer Canada), because this organization was there for her. YACC understands that young adults and a young family’s cancer journey is different than when we are older and yet it has very little support. When she went off work she could no longer afford the mortgage of the family home and it was sold, and by the time the mortgage was paid, liabilities were cleared up, and things had been sorted out, she had a small amount of cash to try to find a home for her and her dogs. Shawnna found herself going from living a comfortable life with two middle income earning young adults with big plans, to a young woman that was living off a part time job and a very modest amount of support, and then living off disability and the support she couldn’t even afford the rent in Nanaimo, but needed to stay near her support system for the day-to-day help. But still Shawnna was a young woman with a heart for life and moving on. So she found a piece of land to rent she purchased an older 5th Wheel to live in, that she was told was freshly sealed with any leaks repaired, and assured by a family member it was a good buy and in good shape for its age.  So what brought us to this point – things are sounding not to bad right? WRONG! That 5th Wheel is a rotted, leaky moldy, pile of junk. Her walls are literally crumbling in places. It takes every ounce of energy and every dollar Shawnna has to keep things working and fixed, but it’s really a waste and she’s pouring her money into a bottomless pit. On top of that the furnace costs far too much to use so she heats with a portable heater. No one should have to live like this but certainly not someone that has fought so hard to stay alive and can’t work because of the damage from her treatments – all of this risks her health even more. What’s the solution? Shawnna received a small inheritance and she’s smart and wants to take that money and invest it in the building of a tiny home. A nice warm tiny house constructed with building materials used in a house, with all the things every human should have. A professional builder and his wife, who are friends of Shawnna’s are willing to build for close to cost, but with the money Shawnna has, that still leaves Shawnna $20,000 short. So, I’m asking for your help through this Go Fund Me Page. Every donation helps. Every donation adds up. If I can make this happen, then I know my daughter will have a warm home for the rest of her life. I wish I could just do this for her but I can’t. As a community I’m hoping we can come together and give Shawnna a Christmas she will never forget. I understand many of us are really struggling right now, and that there’s not a lot of extra money to help others, and we appreciate every donation no matter how small, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart, as does Shawnna.

Anonymous

Laura Buechler

Sharon Forrest

Lois Myers

Kathleen Burke

Corina Gibson

Mary Pady

Arianna Cringan

melissa Vaters

Angela Jupe

Cara West

Help Shawnna Get a Safe Roof Over Her Head

Help Shawnna Get a Safe Roof Over Her Head

Still $21,105 to go. Help us build momentum.