Need help for cancer treatment.

Hello! I am Debbie Wilson. I was born in Duncan, BC, and spent my childhood there. After graduating from high school, I went to UVic for 1 year, then went to the U of S in Saskatoon, SK for 5 years (one extra year because I had my spine fused after my 3rd year and had to learn to walk again, etc) then convocated with my Bachelors degree in Pharmacy. I returned to Vancouver Island and worked in a few communities until 2004 when a customer transmitted MRSA to me and it moved inside my spine (through holes drilled during my spinal fusion surgery) into my spinal fluid and the day after I contracted MRSA I was helicoptered to Vancouver General Hospital for emergency surgery to cut out the dead bone and muscle etc. I was in hospital for a long time and had to learn to walk again, too. I was unable to work again because I was suffering from extreme pain every day and I sometimes fainted at work due to the pain. It took my disability insurance more than 6 months and one pricey lawyer to get my disability payments. That six months needed money to pay bills and buy groceries and it took all my savings to survive. Now we survive on my very low disability insurance monthly benefits.

On October 28, 2022, my doctor phoned me to tell me that the biopsy done on Oct. 25 confirmed that I had breast cancer, specifically I have Ductal Carcinoma.

I was rapidly scheduled for a Partial Mastectomy on November 23, 2022. On December 5 I had a follow up appointment with my surgeon (she is awesome) and she had a bit of bad news. The tumour was larger than she had expected, and while she did get all of it she was concerned because the margins were not how she would have preferred. Also, of the five lymph nodes removed, unfortunately all five were positive for cancer cells. Still, she thinks I just have Stage 1 or Stage 2 (of 4 stages with stage 4 being the worst).

Next big thing: the appointment with my Oncologist come up on January 18. My Oncologist had some scary news, though. The results of many tests and scans showed that I had either Stage 3 or Stage 4 cancer, and the following Sunday I had another CAT scan, and now it is for sure: I have Stage 3 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma. I need six months of chemotherapy here, at the North Island Hospital at the Courtenay campus, after that about 4 weeks to heal a bit, then about 4 or 5 weeks of radiation.

The 4 weeks of radiation has to be in Victoria, from Monday to Friday each week, coming home for weekends. I will need Shawn to be with me, to help me, in Victoria.

I need help. Please

We need to pay for accommodation and food and travel.

Possibly I may also need to pay for some prescriptions or burn cream or dressings for the radiation.

If I am unable to get in at the Cancer Lodge in Victoria (which would be at a lower rate than a hotel) a hotel would be at least $250 per night (for both of us) plus food (eating out is pricey!). Hotels with kitchenettes are tough to get, too. I think food for both of us could run about $150 daily if we are careful.

So, $250 per night for hotel, and food about $150 daily = $400 daily

x 20 or so days = $8,000. OMG.

Plus about $300 weekly for fuel (Comox to Victoria return) plus driving to and from the hospital daily. (4 weeks x $300 weekly = $1200).

So, $8,000 plus $1200 = $9,200

And if Shawn is with me in Victoria to help me, he can’t be at home working, tying flies and jigs and earning money.

I can NOT believe this! How can it cost so much just to get better? Thank God that we live in Canada and not the US!

So I am asking you for your help. Please. I really, really want to get better, to kill the cancer.

The more people who can help me, the more I am able to focus on getting better and killing off the cancer.

Please help.