Hi folks,

My name is Finn, Jena has been a best friend to me for 10+ years. I am working with a group of her close humans to provide care and support during this time.

As many of you know, our dear friend Jena has been battling skin cancer the last 5 years and it has been a very intense uphill battle. After being diagnosed with melanoma, she participated in an experimental trial for immunotherapy. This treatment, while successful at killing the cancer at the time, unfortunately began attacking her body and rapidly deteriorating her soft cell tissue. After a short period of time cancer-free (though still under attack from the experimental treatment), the cancer has recently returned in multiple spots, including her arm, shin, and now a brain tumour that is considered stage 4.

Jena will be having brain surgery on WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18. The doctors seemed positive about being able to get the tumour cleared and that it should be a pretty straightforward surgery. However, it will be a long recovery that will require a lot of help; she will need 24-hour in-home care. Having this financial support will go such a long way to making sure our beloved Jena has the best set-up for recovering. <3 We are feeling very optimistic and hopeful!

Jena has a strong support circle during this time, helping, caretaking, and navigating legal and life matters. What we are currently lacking is financial support as this is going to be an expensive endevor. We have a rough estimate of costs for the next year, but please be aware that we may need to adjust numbers to reflect the actual costs as they come. Recovery could and most likely will take more than one year.

Right now, Jena has extremely low capacity and energy, as you can imagine. We have a few close friends and her partner who are her main contacts/care to help manage overwhelm and keep her feeling as relaxed as possible. We ask that you please respect her capacity at this time and avoid reaching out to her. She is struggling to keep in contact with her immediate caretakers so PLEASE respect this request and DO NOT CONTACT HER. In person visits right now are not possible so please do not show up. We need everyone to be patient and we will let folks closer to her know when they will be able to visit. Your patience is appreciated and important to Jena’s wellbeing and recovery.

We will utilize this platform not only to collect funds but to keep everyone else in Jena’s life informed while respecting her privacy. Please forward this to anyone you know who may not have seen this yet.

If you would like to send a message to her, you're welcome to comment on this Gofundme page or fill out the FORM linked below if you prefer something more private. We will make sure to condense the messages so she can see them all with respect to everyone’s privacy <3.

Love Notes for Jena <3 https://forms.gle/5r2YjKGg96iCJxVv5

This is an ongoing battle, we recommend folks donating smaller amounts ongoing rather than bigger chunks up front if that is more accessible <3

*All money donated will be put towards Jena's medical, legal, and life expenses. We are unsure at this point how much everything may cost so the end goal may change as medical bills can be really unpredictable. Below is a breakdown of KNOWN costs; I have utilized these numbers for the overarching goal for now. Anything left over will be donated to BC Cancer at her request.

APPROX COSTS FOR THE NEXT YEAR:

Legal - $1500 (Will, POA, etc)

Medical: $1500/month

Monthly Expenses (rent, food, phone etc) - $3350

Housing needs - adjusting her space to be more accessible and comfortable

Roughly $60k Total

Johanne is Jena's cousin and listed here as the beneficiary. She will be managing finances for her during this time.

Estimating the Cost of Cancer Care in British Columbia

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5344366/#:~:text=Mean%20costs%20were%20highest%20for,cancer%20and%20lower%20for%20melanoma.

"Mean costs were highest for the terminal phase of care and varied from about $33,632 to $75,950 in BC."