Talia has passed on

Join Talia's Army to FIGHT Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Talia Rose is our 23-year-old spunky, funny and always-curious child. They have a huge love for animals and nature, an accomplished dancer, proud ally and supporter of any LGBTQQIP2SA+, and loves to explore the world around them.

Their father Joe and I began fostering Talia and their brother Jazz back in 2002 after they both suffered severe child abuse and later adopted both into our family. Talia was the most terrified child I had ever seen yet they remained curious and their sweet smile never wavered.

It took many months for Talia to trust, but once they did, they just blossomed. They were a competitive Irish dancer, ballet and tap dancer.

At age 6 we began noticing that Talia was struggling to walk and in fact, at one point stopped walking completely and resorted to crawling against the wall or on their hands and knees. They were diagnosed as having arthritis and later on diagnosed with Hypermobile Ehlers- Danlos Syndrome, Ankylosing Spondylitis, as well as Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, OCD, and PTSD from childhood trauma. In 2004 they were hospitalized with a mysterious illness that caused their spleen to kill off red blood cells and we almost lost them. These conditions caused a lot of pain and seriously affected Talia’s ability to walk and move freely without pain or stiffness.

In 2020 Talia developed a Substance Use Disorder and was lost to the streets for 2 years. During that time they survived more trauma than any person should ever need to endure. Due to severe trauma, Talia identifies as non-binary and prefers “they/them” pronouns.

The day after Mother’s Day 2022 Talia called me to ask me to come home. After almost losing their life on the streets, Talia decided to get clean and wanted our support. Talia knew that our love and support were unconditional.

Talia returned home and dedicated themselves to getting their life back. They stayed clean and have remained clean since the day we picked them up (thirteen months ago) and brought them home to safety.

Due to having neglected health care for the past few years and an overloaded system that is generally lacking empathy towards those with Substance Use Disorder, Talia needed additional testing to evaluate their chronic conditions.

Because of these tests, abnormalities were found and Talia was eventually diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma. We were all devastated, to say the least as Talia had been working so hard to build their life back just to be knocked over by a giant boulder called cancer.

We have started this fundraiser to help offset the costs of Talia’s treatment as they are on social assistance thus a very limited income source with no insurance.

To start we would like to get Talia a custom wig made from her mother’s hair. Mom has a lot of hair to share and would love to give this to Talia. We are also taking her to see a chiropractor for her autoimmune disorder and to help increase her immune system during chemo treatments. This also helps to re-align her body caused by severe arthritis.

Talia also needs a new bed with a more comfortable mattress and an air purifier, and additional costs for treatments and medications are sure to come. Travel and in-hospital cost also add up each month. Dad is also doing a fundraiser selling awareness ribbons with Canada flags and Mom is doing an online bake sale.

If you can donate we humbly appreciate it, and if you can't, please consider sharing this link on your social media.

Much Love to all,

from the McLarty Family to yours.