Dan is a loving father of four, and grandfather to ten, and lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. For almost two years he has been fighting for his life after first being diagnosed with leukemia. With the inability to work and being stuck in hospital beds for most of 2025 thus far, Dan’s financial situation continues to worsen.

This is Dan’s story.

In 2023, Dan was diagnosed with AML Leukemia and was told that his fight would be long and extremely difficult. This news was devastating. He had already gone through a leg amputation caused by a terrible accident in 2016 and was also diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. However, Dan is a strong man with the will to live, so he fought hard and chose to undergo chemotherapy. For months, with the support of his friends and family, Dan pushed himself to attend treatments regardless of his weakened state. It was also identified during this treatment, that Dan was also in heart failure. Thankfully, he pulled through and was considered in remission.

Yet, the risks were high of the cancer returning, so Dan went on the list to find a bone marrow doner. The wait was long, but thankfully in July of 2024, Dan received a stem cell transplant. Afterwards, he was at high risk of becoming ill and contracting diseases, so had to be extremely careful. Unfortunately, in January of 2025, Dan returned to the hospital where it was confirmed in March that he was infected by a parasite. The parasite is not considered rare in Canada, however it is extremely rare for it to infect humans. Doctor’s were less experienced in dealing with this scenario, and the medication was not available in Canada. It took weeks for the pills to be approved to bring into Canada, and then arrive.

In April of 2025, Dan began his treatment, with the understanding that surgery may be possible down the road. In June he was moved to a recovery center to hopefully become strong enough to look after himself. After less than a month, he returned home and unfortunately had several falls. One of these falls injured his stump, which caused an infection. Not long after, Dan became ill with a fever and was transported by ambulance to the nearest hospital. They discovered Dan had a large amount of fluid and puss built up around his lungs, and also had contracted pneumonia, in addition to the infection on his stump.

They have drained the fluid from his lungs; however, the fluid continues to return, baffling doctors. This may be caused from the parasite, but things are still unknown at this time. The pneumonia has cleared up, and the fever is gone, however Dan was informed that the pills they were giving him for the parasite were only intended to slow them down, not to kill them. The parasites are not killable.

The only way for Dan to survive, is to go through a high-risk liver surgery, and potentially a chest surgery at the same time. This surgery is set for August 1, 2025. The recover time will be a minimum of two weeks but may be longer depending on the outcome.

Dan’s family is asking for financial assistance to help pay for Dan’s rent and other important bills while Dan is unable to work. His dog, Jada, also requires her annual shots. In addition to looking after their families, money has been tied up in the costs of flights, meals, hospital parking, and other travel expenses, making it difficult to assist Dan with his bills.