Jonathan Wilfred Collier's Brain Cancer Journey

The Collier Family thanks you for your donations. We will put them to good use to cover costs associated with traveling daily for radiation therapy for 6 weeks starting December 31, 2024, as well as for any prescription drug costs. Jon starts taking chemotherapy drugs Wednesday, December 18.

Any experimental drugs for advanced brain tumours that we might try are insanely expensive, around $30, 000 for a single course of treatment like a bottle of 30 pills, so these are currently out of our reach, but we will not give up with the current technology available!

Any extra money accrued will cover lost wages in this transitionary period for our household, which was benefiting from having two full time income earners until this month. We are both home now waiting for further intervention as two grade III Astrocytomas have formed and are progressing where the initial tumour, found April 20, 2022 was partially resected (removed). Although a team of highly skilled surgeons in Saskatoon removed as much of the tumour as they could when it caused a major seizure back in 2022, brain cancer infiltrates healthy tissue, at the risk of losing vital functions in the brain, which is why it cannot be fully extracted.

Jon's short term goal is to reduce stress and get through treatment to freeze or even reverse tumour growth so that he can get back to work for the time being, as he finds a sense of purpose in his job as a horizontal directional driller. Jon's cancer is affecting the right side of his brain, and his superpower right now is math and linear processing. He has so much to give and accomplish still. He has helped build many things in Saskatoon--let alone elsewhere across Canada--so if you are following this page, there will be a short presentation to come about his extensive work!

The status of the brain cancer is known due to MRI scans, but you should know that Jon is mostly (besides grappling with the unknown) symptom free and enjoying time with his family and friends.