Iryna’s Cancer Cushion of Support

Hello, My name is Orysia and I am a friend of an incredibly vibrant and positive 36-year old young woman recently diagnosed with brain cancer from Ukraine. Her name is Iryna.

Iryna and her husband Vlad, came to Ontario over two years ago, as a result of the war on Ukraine. I have been blessed to know them since they arrived in Canada through our families and church. Iryna and Vlad have become active members of our Canadian communities in faith, work, volunteering and friendship.

Just over two weeks ago, while Iryna was at work (a teller) at the Ukrainian Credit Union in Hamilton, she lost her memory, was confused and had head/ear pain. Iryna’s husband Vlad rushed to her work, and took her to Emergency at Joseph Brant in Burlington. After a long wait at Burlington Emerg, a CT scan revealed a large mass on her brain. Six days later she had brain surgery to remove the tumour at Hamilton General Hospital. Now Sixteen long days later Iryna’s Neurosurgeons at Juravinski Cancer Center confirmed she has an aggressive cancer, stage 4 Glioblastoma.

Iryna is up for the fight and is taking on this challenge with positivity and resilience like a true Ukrainian warrior.

The couple is still navigating living in a new country, working through settlement hurdles and now learning to adapt to cancer treatment. Life changes have fallen on their body, mind and spirts like a live grenade and they are carefully manoeuvring to find safety.

This news is heavy and in contrast I am reaching out to anyone who would like to participate in softening and brightening the things we can control to help this young couple. Together I believe we can make a difference and help with “mind over matter”, while the doctors focus on the medical matters.

I have created this page to help Iryna and Vlad take the financial burden of living expenses off their list of worries. With so much going on in their lives, I believe this will make a huge difference to not have to think how to extend dollars more than they already do as newcomers in the long process of resettling and restarting.

The goal of this page is to provide security and stability for the upcoming year. To ensure rent, insurance, internet, healthy good quality food and any extra care/prescription expenses are covered/available to focus on quality time for togetherness, health and healing.

No one can, nor should do this alone, I believe this act of kindness will go a long way to not only boost the couple's spirits but also show solidarity and sincere support. Knowing so many people care to help them through this battle is a super power in itself.

There has been so much positive progression in research around the world recently for Glioblastoma and this helps us remain positive and hopeful that Iryna has the best care and chance for more in life and Canada.

Please give what you can to help Iryna and Vlad create a soft cushion for the near future as they prepare to reserve all strength to battle cancer.

Thank you for all your generosity and support!

Note: This is my first time creating a GoFundMe page and I always wondered how the finances worked. Please note, there is a small transaction fee of 2.9% + $0.30 to cover the banking costs per donation which are deducted from the amount of your donation to Iryna. GoFund me has a TIP in the donation form which goes directly to GoFundMe, and you are not required to enter a tip unless you want to. You can read more about this on their page.

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Dear Friends and All Kind People following and sending prayer and positive energy towards my sweet friend Iryna.

We are now taking Iryna’s Cancer Cushion of support to a new level of sharing. In the past few months as Iryna was navigating her new world, learning about living with cancer, she is now ready to share more about what has transpired with her diagnosis.

Four short months ago in May, Iryna discovered she had a tumour in her brain. She had surgery in May to resolve the pressure, remove as much tumour as possible and confirm the type of growth. Doctors confirmed Iryna has stage 4 Glioblastoma Brain Cancer. For us Canadian’s this became a well known cancer when Gord Downey was diagnosed in December 2015.

Iryna’s surgery was followed up by 6 weeks of daily chemotherapy (pill) and 5 days a week of radiation at Juravinski Hospital and Cancer Center in Hamilton. This is the standard treatment for Glioblastoma in Canada. The incredible team at this hospital helped her through these long weeks of treatment.

Following treatment we called her break a vacation! We had a little celebration at my house to honour the event! We had a deck party and dinner and a delicious cheesecake from Lila’s in Burlington! Blueberry because Iryna loves berries and all kinds of fruits! I taught my new to Canada Ukrainian friends how to play Wii Bowling! We had so much fun and we all laughed so much!

Iryna’s vacation from treatment perfectly coincided with our beautiful Canadian summer! She could enjoy the sun and outdoors having visits with family and friends without the daily hospital visits and feeling sick from the chemo pills. I was fortunate to attend an early radiation appointment and first day on the chemo pill and meet two of her doctors. I started learning first hand with Iryna about cancer treatment and care. This vacation was so needed after weeks of this well known treatment.

All vacations must come to an end. Often there is a marker that signals this, whether it be a plane flight home, a long drive back in traffic from the cottage or the start of school. For Iryna her signal was her 5 week vacation MRI scan which was near the end of August. The scan revealed how aggressive the cancer was even with the previous 6 weeks of treatment. A week and half later, the day after labour day, Iryna had her second resection (removal) by her highly skilled neurosurgeon who performed the craniotomy. Both times doing an amazing job, delicately working to remove the tumour and not damage her brain.

That was all early September. Last week at Iryna’s appointment her oncologists explained available treatment. From the oncologist’s experience and education, the only treatment option remaining was a very strong chemotherapy. Given the strength needed, treatment was discouraged, saying it would greatly damage her liver and kidneys severely declining her quality of life given their prediction it may only extend her life a few months extra.

Although cancer doctors feel she has run out of options, Iryna has a strong will and fight in her to live.

She has sourced a Naturopathic Doctor for her next treatment option. I’ve copied this from Iryna’s doctor’s website as this type of treatment is new to me also. “In Germany, cancer treatment is integrative.  The government healthcare program includes mistletoe therapy for any patient diagnosed with cancer.  Mistletoe Therapy is not well known in North America.  Mistletoe Therapy consists of having an injection up to 3 times a week.  The treatment protocol is determined by the experts in Germany.  Your health history, type of cancer, stage of cancer, and other factors are recorded and submitted to the doctors in Germany.  They notify our Naturopathic Doctors on what dose and what type of mistletoe to use and how often to administer the injections.” Sounds like Iryna from her strength has found a new hope. As many of us with health insurance know, these alternative medical options are not covered by OHIP and rely on self funding.

As a result of this turn of events we need to push onwards towards our crowd funding goal more now than ever with this recent increase in unexpected expenses. The goal is to together help take the everyday non-cancer related stress out of Iryna’s life equation, have healthy food, cover basic living expenses (rent, car, insurance, internet) and now Naturopathic treatment.

My ask is that you share Iryna’s page with your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues through social media or messages and together we can provide Iryna the cushion she needs to help her live her beautiful and best days today.

If you prefer to message me directly, you can find me on Facebook by searching my name. There are not many Orysia Foster’s in Ontario. I am open to any suggestions, ideas, positive notes and most of all any shared learning. Everything I have received so far I have passed along to Iryna and her family. She is fully aware of this page . She welcomes and is so very grateful for your comfort and support!

Thank you all for your loving kindness!