We are starting this GoFundMe for our brother, Nick Paquin.

He has recently been diagnosed with Degenerative Disc Disease and will be flying to Germany to have extensive surgery to replace 3 discs in his lumbar spine. This is a very expensive surgery and we need your help to bless this family.

Nick has a heart of gold and lives a life in service of others. As a social worker, he works primarily with school-aged children and provides counselling to a number of schools in Medicine Hat.

Nick and his wife, Ashley are two of the best people you’ll ever meet. Caring, compassionate and always willing to help. They have two young daughters, Berkley (6) & Isla (4) who absolutely love hiking, camping and exploring with their parents.

The years have not been easy for this young family. Nick was diagnosed in 2019 with non-hodgkins lymphoma and underwent years of chemo and radiation. With the help of wonderful medical staff, family and friends, they walked through that horrible road to recovery back to health.

Fast forward to fall 2022, when Nick was up in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut (google map it if you’ve never heard of it) doing some work with the Ministry of Social Services in the school there, doing what he knows and loves best, working with students.

While up there, he was playing with some of the kids, hitting a volleyball around and noticed a twinge in his back. Not thinking much of it, he returned home and to his normal routine. But the pain didn’t subside, it instead grew increasingly worse.

Over the past many months, this excruciating pain has become absolutely debilitating for Nick and is robbing him of his quality of life, making it near impossible to sleep, play with his girls, walk or go for hikes, work and so much else.

If anyone is deserving to have this pain relieved, it is truly Nick. Please help us in raising money to help them offset the cost of the trip, surgery and support for his family.

The medical and travel costs associated with this procedure will begin at approximately $75,000. All funds received will go directly towards these costs.