Donate for Dani

With shattered hearts, we share the story of our dear friend, Danielle (Dani).

D and I(Phil) are seeking support for Dani, and my brother Colin. D and Dani have been friends since university, 20 years ago, and have always been a big part of each other’s lives. I had the pleasure of meeting Dani for the first time a few years ago when she began dating Colin.

Many of you may know Dani personally and already understand the great person she is.  She is the type of person to drop what she is doing and help others in any way possible. Dani is one of the strongest-willed people I have ever met and has always been active.  This has been evident in her professional life as a teacher, coach, and mentor to her students as well as in her personal life, running Tough Mudders, playing lacrosse, hiking or playing with the kids. When Dani began dating Colin you could see a change in him, she is one of the best things that has happened to him. Dani instantly accepted Colin’s son Carson as her own and has also had an incredibly positive influence on him.

After having spent Christmas with family, on the morning of December 31st, Dani had a seizure and was rushed to the hospital by ambulance. An MRI was performed at the hospital where they found that she had a mass in her brain. As a next step, an appointment was set to perform a biopsy on Jan 12th. By all accounts, everything seemed to go well with the biopsy, however, while she was in recovery Dani’s brain began to swell. The doctors called the family to inform them they were afraid something catastrophic had happened. An emergency craniectomy was performed but Dani was placed on life support and not expected to survive.

The following day, Dani regained the ability to breathe on her own and was consequently removed from the life support system. However, she remained in a “minimally conscious state”. While she was in this state, the results of the biopsy came back and, unfortunately, confirmed everyone’s worst nightmare.  Dani had a large, inoperable grade 4 glioblastoma, which is the most aggressive and deadly form of brain cancer. Doctors explained that with treatment, life expectancy would be approximately 14 months, however, treatment was not an option while Dani remained in a minimally conscious state. Without treatment, Dani’s life expectancy was a mere 2-3 months. 

After about a month in a minimally conscious state, Dani “woke up”. At this time she was able to eat yogurt and other mashed foods. Her legs and right arm were nonfunctional. She did have movement in her left arm. The swelling in her brain was still quite high so she was not approved for radiation. She was also denied chemo as they wanted to see more movement and the ability to eat solids before this could happen. After weeks in the hospital, Dani had her first bite of solid food, a hamburger. Colin couldn’t resist and brought it from a local restaurant, as one of Dani’s first sentences was “I want a burger”.

After another few weeks, Dani’s recovery continued to the point where she was approved for chemo and was told that she could return home.

Since then, Dani has been living at home with Colin and their 3 children. There have been ups and downs. Dani has tolerated the chemotherapy well and a recent MRI has even shown that while the brain swelling persists, the tumour has actually shrunk slightly.  Dani has also made great progress with her movement. Through physiotherapy and sheer determination, Dani is now able to sit in a wheelchair and can shake her legs back and forth. Her left arm is very strong and she has begun to have some movement in her right arm. Unfortunately, the swelling did cause severe brain damage, so Dani’s communication skills have suffered severely. We are hopeful that with the support of her family and her never give up attitude, Dani can continue to progress and be able to enjoy the time she has remaining.

We would like to make Dani’s remaining years as comfortable and enjoyable as possible. As you all know Dani was a very active person, always playing sports and running around with the kids. Being cooped up in a house has been quite hard for her. Colin has tried his best to get her out of the house for walks and bring her into the backyard. Unfortunately, it takes 2 strong people to be able to carry her wheelchair down the front steps of their house to be able to get out for walks. She is also not able to get up to the pool area in their backyard to be able to watch the kids swim and do her own physiotherapy in the pool.

We are hoping that any funds raised could help to make their home more wheelchair accessible by adding ramps for access to and from the house as well as creating an accessible bathroom. We want to give Dani the best quality of life possible and the ability to create new and lasting memories for her and her children.

Thank you to all the people who have already helped support Dani, Colin, and their children thus far as they experience the most difficult time of their lives. Your contribution is greatly appreciated.