Help Tracy & Blue fly home for life-saving cancer treatment

Hi my name is Heather and I met Tracy Pepper (yes you have to say both names) over 20 years ago when we were both volunteers for Camp Ooch (now Campfire Circle). It was my first summer at this transformational camp for children affected by childhood cancer - meanwhile Tracy was a veteran counsellor who also happened to be a childhood ovarian (!) cancer survivor.

Tracy is a wild and wise woman who, not long after we met, bravely relocated solo to New Zealand and carved out a beautiful life there working as a massage therapist and pretty much grabbing life by the balls. She has never lost her passion for adventure or commitment to giving back.

Unfortunately, a secondary cancer, has forced Tracy to make the hard but right decision to return to Canada to get the medical treatment she needs. Yes - even the medical professionals in New Zealand agree - Canada is best positioned to treat Tracy’s kidney cancer that has metastasized to her lungs. The diagnosis is incurable stage 4 cancer and Tracy will be embarking on a fairly new immunotherapy treatment which may affect her good kidney which could result in kidney disease, dialysis and a transplant. Another common side effect is autoimmune disease. It’s going to be a battle - but Tracy is no stranger to beating the odds. She was supposed to lose her hearing and have lung scarring after the experimental clinical trial she pioneered for ovarian cancer when she was only 10 years old in 1985!

The oncologists at Princess Margaret in Toronto have planned a 2-year treatment protocol - it will be long and exhausting - compounded by financial and housing instability. The hope is that immunotherapy will stop the cancer from spreading. It's not a cure, but it can give Tracy years. To quote Tracy - “I'm scared but I can't help but fight. It's in my DNA.”

Anyone who knows Tracy knows that she slays dragons - but this time she needs a little help from friends and strangers. Please consider making a donation and sending healing energy - every little bit helps - to Tracy and her faithful dog Blue - that she trained as a therapy dog - so they can fly home and Tracy can focus on her health and Blue can do what he was trained to do.

Thank you!

LIB

ps - there is a lot of pride swallowing to be a recipient of a gofundme but I see it as a gift to be able to give to someone who has always been the giver.