Stand With Dylan
Donation protected
Our friend Dylan has been diagnosed with a malignant and inoperable brain tumour known as Diffuse Midline Glioma. He is giving his all to fight this cancer and will soon undergo chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
Dylan was nearing the end of his term position as an Educational Assistant when he received this diagnosis. His sickness will prevent him from starting a term of work this fall as he had planned, so he is left without any employment income.
We want Dylan to be able to put his energy into fighting this cancer instead of worrying about money that he will need for living expenses and to take as many opportunities as he can to enjoy life. Please contribute what you can to support Dylan in this fight.
Here is Dylan’s story in his own words:
In mid June, I was having issues with concentration and walking (my left leg would not always do what I told it to).
At the insistence of my friend Kelly Walters, and the vehicular/emotional support of my friend Scott Wachal, I went to a hospital.
The hospital found something amiss in a CT scan of my brain. There was far more buildup of CSF than there should have been (this is called Hydrocephalus). They transferred me to the Health Sciences Centre, who punched a temporary hole in my skull and ran a tube in to drain off the excess CSF.
They also performed further scans, identifying a tumor near my pineal gland that was blocking the drainage of CSF.
The next two weeks were spent stabilizing my hydrocephalus by putting a hole in the bottom of my brain's membrane to drain off the excess CSF (and observing me to ensure it was sufficient).
This was all very shocking for me, but I had so many supportive friends and family checking up on me, and keeping me distracted from the hospital life :) The 2 weeks I spent in the hospital were a much more pleasant experience than they could have been, and I am truly grateful to my friends and family for being awesome, supportive people :)
A week or two after I was discharged, they had me in again for a few days to perform a biopsy on the tumor to determine if it was malignant and what kind of tumor it was.
It took about a week to get the results, and they were sobering...
The tumor was malignant, a type known as Diffuse Midline Glioma. It is an inoperable type of tumor, due to its location in the brain stem(the brain stem is really important :P )
I have been given a life expectancy of 14-18 months with treatment, and said treatment will start with 6 weeks of chemo therapy and radiation.
This type of cancer has a high rate of recurrence, and less than 1% of patients live to see 5 years.
I intend to fight this son of a bitch to the very end. I want to live, and the odds aren't in my favor, but I can't just give up. When I first learned, I felt like everything was pointless.
But we've made amazing strides in technology, and I'm hoping that I can last long enough for someone to science up a hotfix ;).
Plus, I can hope that things turn out well. Hope is one of the few things I CAN control in all this.
Dylan was nearing the end of his term position as an Educational Assistant when he received this diagnosis. His sickness will prevent him from starting a term of work this fall as he had planned, so he is left without any employment income.
We want Dylan to be able to put his energy into fighting this cancer instead of worrying about money that he will need for living expenses and to take as many opportunities as he can to enjoy life. Please contribute what you can to support Dylan in this fight.
Here is Dylan’s story in his own words:
In mid June, I was having issues with concentration and walking (my left leg would not always do what I told it to).
At the insistence of my friend Kelly Walters, and the vehicular/emotional support of my friend Scott Wachal, I went to a hospital.
The hospital found something amiss in a CT scan of my brain. There was far more buildup of CSF than there should have been (this is called Hydrocephalus). They transferred me to the Health Sciences Centre, who punched a temporary hole in my skull and ran a tube in to drain off the excess CSF.
They also performed further scans, identifying a tumor near my pineal gland that was blocking the drainage of CSF.
The next two weeks were spent stabilizing my hydrocephalus by putting a hole in the bottom of my brain's membrane to drain off the excess CSF (and observing me to ensure it was sufficient).
This was all very shocking for me, but I had so many supportive friends and family checking up on me, and keeping me distracted from the hospital life :) The 2 weeks I spent in the hospital were a much more pleasant experience than they could have been, and I am truly grateful to my friends and family for being awesome, supportive people :)
A week or two after I was discharged, they had me in again for a few days to perform a biopsy on the tumor to determine if it was malignant and what kind of tumor it was.
It took about a week to get the results, and they were sobering...
The tumor was malignant, a type known as Diffuse Midline Glioma. It is an inoperable type of tumor, due to its location in the brain stem(the brain stem is really important :P )
I have been given a life expectancy of 14-18 months with treatment, and said treatment will start with 6 weeks of chemo therapy and radiation.
This type of cancer has a high rate of recurrence, and less than 1% of patients live to see 5 years.
I intend to fight this son of a bitch to the very end. I want to live, and the odds aren't in my favor, but I can't just give up. When I first learned, I felt like everything was pointless.
But we've made amazing strides in technology, and I'm hoping that I can last long enough for someone to science up a hotfix ;).
Plus, I can hope that things turn out well. Hope is one of the few things I CAN control in all this.
Organizer and beneficiary
Neil Turner
Organizer
Winnipeg, MB
Dylan Fontaine
Beneficiary