Ron's Fundraiser-Heart Tumour and Liver Cancer Diagnosis

This Go Fund Me fundraiser is to try to eliminate some of the debt that has resulted from my medical situation and has impacted my family’s income and our ability to make ends meet from month to month; not to eliminate the entire debt, but to help make our living situation sustainable moving forward.

In December 2023 Ron began to feel tired all the time and was finding it increasing difficult to take a deep breathe. This went on for a few more months and got worse over time.

In March 2024 while conferring with his family doctor his situation got worse and was not improving at all. His feet began to swell as did other parts of his body such as his hands, feet stomach etc… he was ordered by his family doctor to head to the emergency department at Trillium hospital Queensway in Mississauga Ontario.

While in the emergency department he was sent for a CT scan and an ultrasound of his heart. The cardiac surgeon returned with the terrifying news of a massive heart tumor that required immediate emergency open heart surgery in an effort to save his life.

Ron underwent a 4-hour operation and woke up in the ICU 2 days later on a ventilator. While in surgery the doctors also found a blood clot on his liver; which turned out to be terminal liver cancer. Although there is no cure there are still many treatment options to prolong his life. However, there are no guarantees with how long he can live with this type of cancer.

In June 2024, Ron underwent radiation therapy to kill the cancer in the liver and is currently undergoing double drug autoimmune drug therapy in order to manage the spread of cancer in a vein leading from the liver to the heart. (they believe this is how the heart tumor originally formed) He has undergone 6 of the 12 treatments; as they are once every 28 days for 1 year. Ron has now been off work for over 1 year.

Insurance

Ron’s spouse had to take about 6 months off work to care for Ron full time and to drive him to his many appointments, including the ridiculous costs of parking at all these appointments. Ron went on LTD benefits which is about 70% of his income; His family income went from 200% to 70% and this has caused a significant increase to the family debt over the last year of about $25,000.

The family believed it had critical illness coverage for emergency situations like this for both Ron and his spouse; after applying for the critical illness benefit, they were told by their insurance company that their claim was denied as their policy date was after the diagnosed date; this was what we thought an obvious error; however, we were told we only had coverage for my spouse and not for me; it’s their word against ours and our claim was denied. So, the debt remains making our month-to-month expenses so challenging over the past year that we were not able to keep up without incurring debt to credit cards and our line credit. Although our family has returned to 130% of our income; the debt remains a challenge.

It took us a year to realize that asking for help is not a sign of weakness but one of strength. I would like to thank anyone and everyone who may be able to donate any amount to assist us with getting to a more sustainable living situation month to month.

We are truly grateful for any and all donations to this fundraiser.