Help Theo Collins' family & fight against Cancer

Dear Friends, Family, and community,

Hi there, My name is Haisla Collins, I am a professional contemporary Indigenous artist, teacher, musician, and community organizer, local to Vancouver BC, best known for my mural "Sisters, Daughters, Clan Mothers" showcased permanently at the Central Vancouver Public Library. I also have led many indigenous community art projects and have been a prominent member of the arts community of Vancouver for a long time going back 30 years.

My Dad has been my dear friend and mentor for my whole life. He is an accomplished writer, Indigenous educator and thinker. He has a following of students and community members who have gone off to become important leaders in the indigenous community. He has a Masters in creative writing from UBC and some Law and has taught, mostly indigenous studies at the Institute of Indigenous Government, Malaspina, Native Education College, and wrote courses for the Open Learning Agency. And recently finished an impressive 700 page autobiography, "Legends of Myself: An Indigenous Childhood" which we plan on taking steps to get published. He is an important member of the community and he is important to me as his beloved daughter.

And he has been a huge part of my life. He has been my support system, he has been my roommate. He has been childcare for my daughter. He has cooked and helped with housework and done a lot of shopping and errands and really, he has been there for me whenever I needed him.

A few weeks ago dad was very ill and he was bedridden and sick for days. He had been dealing with aches and pains, dizziness, hearing loss and problems with his voice, a number of seemingly unrelated issues. But a few weeks ago it got increasingly worse. When I took him to the hospital he had an inflamed Kidney that wasn’t getting any drainage so his kidney was increasing in size and if I hadn’t taken him to the hospital he might have died. After a long wait in the emergency at VGH we finally saw a doctor and got a bunch of tests done. And dad was finally diagnosed with Cancer, in his kidneys, bones, his jaw and prostate.

He is home now from the hospital but he still needs a lot of care and attention and he is still very ill. One of the doctors working with him believes he can keep him around for about 2 years, but he needs me to take care of him and take care of everything around the house. Because of my Dad’s extra special needs, my ability as the main breadwinner of the household will be increasingly diminished. I have been able to work as a professional artist for many years now largely to my dad's support and help with my daughter. And I will need extra support to do this, from my community. I would like to take off a year or so to take care of my dad and fight this with whatever means necessary.

Thank you to those who have already contributed to my family it is greatly appreciated.

I am planning to do a fundraiser event at 40 WEST 6th Ave. on Feb 20th actual time 7-11PM ( An evening of Music, art auction, and donation collection). Let me know if you can contribute to that in any way. Thank you all for being an incredible and supportive community in this very hard time for our family. Every little bit helps, thank you for your support. Love your friend Haisla