Trent Wilson, 42, lives in Calgary with his wonderful, supportive wife and his 2 beautiful, energetic daughters.  And he has cancer. 

Trent's mom, Joan, developed colon cancer in her early 40's. In March 2020, the colon cancer returned. She endured another colon surgery and aggressive chemotherapy; however, this time, the cancer spread. She grappled with melanoma, lymphoma, and leukemia before passing away on November 24, 2021.

 

Six weeks later, following a routine colon cancer screening (based on family history), Trent learned that he too had developed colon cancer.

This news was hard to digest for Trent’s sister, Shevon, and his father, Rob, so soon after Joan passed. 

 

Trent met with the surgeon on January 12th, 2022. He was placed on an urgent list and told he could expect to be called for surgery within the next 48 hours to 4 weeks.

 

Unsure as to when the surgery would take place, Trent put his students on hold; his last day of work was February 1st.

 

Trent underwent surgery on February 16th. The surgery went well; it was completed laparoscopically, meaning there were minimal incisions made. The colon was resected, meaning the surgeon removed about a foot of the sigmoid colon and then re-connected the colon to hopefully retain bowel function.

 

While the surgery was considered successful, there were complications. Trent suffered internal bleeding at two sites. He was quite ill from blood loss and required two units of blood by transfusion. The resulting hematomas contributed to significant pain, swelling, bruising, lack of mobility, and lack of function.

 

Due to complications, Trent spent a week in the hospital and was discharged on February 23rd.  He was so happy to return to his family, his own bed, and his own bathroom! 

Trent’s return-to-work plan has been delayed. He continues to have limited mobility and walks with a cane. He is low on energy, taking 2 or 3 naps each day. He has not yet regained full control and function of the colon.

Trent is self-employed in Calgary. Trained as a Speech-Language Pathologist, he started his own practise, focusing on supporting school-aged children in learning to communicate, read, write, and spell (as Trent recently commented, proper colon use has never before seemed like such an important goal!)  The nature of this work is meeting individually with scheduled students for in-person therapy.

 

At this point, Trent has been off work longer than anticipated, and it is unclear when he can return to work.  Unfortunately, financial needs are stacking up personally and professionally.  Trent continues to pay rent for his work office, and continues to employ an administrative assistant, although that employee is on reduced hours.  

Trent's business had already been impacted significantly by COVID-19, and the nature of his business and self-employment status did not allow him to qualify for government COVID relief programs.

 

As Trent is self-employed, he is not eligible for Employment Insurance support. He was no longer paying into personal support programs such as Critical Illness or Disability Insurance due to cutting business expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trent does not have prescription drug coverage. Did you know that after many cancer surgeries they prescribe blood thinner needles for 30 days afterward, and the needles are $60 EACH? 

While chemotherapy drugs are covered, supporting medications for managing pain, nausea etc. are not. 

 

Next steps: Trent continues to heal from the hematomas, waiting for the swelling and bruising to subside. Once the hematomas have diminished, a more accurate assessment of remaining nerve function and bowel function can be completed.

 

Trent will soon undertake a 3-month regimen of chemotherapy (what the Oncologist is referring to as “boot camp”) - a short duration of treatment that can be quite intense in terms of side effects.  The oncologist recommended taking this time off work if possible, or reducing hours and demands during this period. 

The tissue removed during surgery has been sent for genetic testing. Trent shows DNA abnormalities in the nuclear expression of sampled tissues, and further testing is being completed to explore the possibility of Lynch Syndrome. 

Lynch Syndrome increases your susceptibility of developing cancer, having a recurrence of cancer, and having cancer spread throughout your body. If testing confirms Lynch Syndrome, additional surgery to remove the entire colon will be completed in approximately 12 months.

Trent is dealing with several neurological symptoms including dizziness, impaired coordination and balance, loss of concentration, fatigue, difficulty with eye tracking, and difficulty with sensory processing. The neurologist is recommending an MRI of the brain. Trent may need additional surgery to remove some metal from his body prior to the procedure so he can be exposed to the powerful magnet used in the MRI scan. 

To manage pervasive dizziness and cognitive dysfunction, the Neurologist has recommended visual-vestibular integration training.  The assessment has been booked ($220) but the frequency and duration of therapy appointments has not been established ($110.00 per session).  This therapy is only available privately and so is an “out-of-pocket” expense.

It has also been recommended that a head-and-neck chiropractor with a NUCCA specialty may increase, regulate, and normalize blood flow to certain brain regions, helping to alleviate severity of neurological symptoms.  Twice weekly sessions have been recommended.  This is an “out-of-pocket” expense. 

Trent has an upcoming appointment with a Developmental Optometrist for an eye tracking and eye teaming assessment.  A portion of this assessment is an “out-of-pocket” expense.  Any need for prescription eye glasses or vision therapy is an “out-of-pocket” expense.

Trent is also pursuing some mental health support. The hospital stay and complications were traumatic and downright scary at times, and the last several weeks have been generally overwhelming with episodes of grief, stress, anxiety, and trauma.  There is also uncertainty in the future with chemo, therapies, and further tests/assessments pending. There is some basic mental health support available within the health care system that Trent has already engaged with, but hopes to attend weekly counselling which will also be an “out-of-pocket” expense. 

What are the funds for?

Trent is looking for support to engage in the therapies described above and support prescription costs.  He is also looking for support to have time to heal prior to returning to work. 

He is looking forward to providing his students and their families the time, attention, and energy they deserve, and providing the level and quality of service that he has built his business on. 

He needs additional time away from work to be physically and mentally prepared to return to his rewarding but demanding work.  Further, he will likely need to transition back to work with reduced hours initially.

 

Trent has been working on a curriculum to teach children how to read. He would like to focus on developing his curriculum to enable him to work from home. Trent needs to work around his current limitations regarding energy, pain, mobility, and proximity to a bathroom!

 

Completion of his curriculum would allow him to hire someone in his business to deliver therapy to clients. The completed curriculum would also enable families to work on therapy materials themselves, requiring less direct therapy time. It would allow families who cannot attend therapy personally in Calgary or feel they cannot afford it to access Trent's extensive knowledge of how to teach children. 

A completed curriculum opens up the possibility of reading for rural populations and economically-challenged populations - not only in Alberta or Canada, but anywhere around the globe for anyone who has a desire to learn to read English! 

This is near and dear to Trent’s heart as he has served many rural communities and has flown into northern communities for contract work in schools, and has always been concerned by the enormously high numbers of children who were not reading at grade level, and the lack of available resources in some of those settings. 

 

Completing a curriculum would be fruitful in the long run; however, it provides no immediate business revenues. 

Financial support now buys TIME, allowing Trent to work from home within his current limitations, and to focus on healing, attending appointments and therapies, and putting chemotherapy behind him. It allows him to focus on manifesting the many benefits of a completed curriculum into reality. 

 

Your help, support, and generosity are sincerely appreciated!