Medical Support For Chris George
Funds from this campaign will help with the following expenses:
Travel to and from Vancouver & to and from accomodation
- Parking
Accomodation at the BC Cancer Lodge
Living expenses during treatment as Chris and Samara and their children will be away from home and will have no form of income.
Treatment: Four shots which stimulate stem cell production required prior to the transplant. Each shot costs approximately $2000 – total expense $8000.
Chris's story by his wife Samara:
"This summer my husband Chris was diagnosed with a cancer of the blood plasma called multiple myeloma. He'd been suffering from unexplained symptoms for the past three years, but was never tested officially for myeloma, so it was not detected until there was bone involvement. The cancer leaches the calcium from your bones in the marrow, similar to osteoporosis. Chris ended up with three compression fractures in his spine from lifting a cooler into the back of our truck.
He's 53.
The treatment involves several rounds of chemotherapy before they do a bone marrow stem cell transplant in Vancouver. He's done the chemo locally, but the transplant procedure is done in Vancouver General Hospital. The treatment takes a month or more, and Chris needs a constant caregiver the whole time, so that means I've gotta go with him. We have two kids (ages 7 and 14) and animals on our hobby farm, so that's been difficult, to say the least, but family and friends have really stepped up and we've got a house-sitter and places for our kids to hang out while we're away. It's not perfect but it's what we have.
Chris and I both lost our jobs in 2008. I was four months pregnant, so I haven't worked since. I landed my first steady job in eight years this July, five days before we received this diagnosis. My employers are angels, because they've given me a leave of absence until the spring. But of course they can't pay me and my replacement. I'm looking into employment insurance benefits but I've only worked for a few months. I'll be using credit cards to cover our expenses and mortgage.
We are really lucky because we can stay with Chris' sister for a lot of the time on the Coast. The Cancer Lodge is great but it costs $55 per night per person. I don't know what people do who don't have friends or family to stay with. For both of us to stay at the Lodge the whole month would run more than six grand. We'll have to drive in from New Westminster to VGH every day. Parking runs $15 per day. The Lodge will be around $600, so we're looking at about $800 in expenses getting to VGH when we are there, not to mention what it will cost to travel to Vancouver. I'll have to come back and forth a couple of times to figure things out with my kids, I think, so there will be another 16 – 24 hours of driving involved. The BC Cancer Society has a fuel subsidy which totals $360.
Oh yeah, Chris has to have these four shots which stimulate stem cell production prior to the transplant. Each shot costs approximately $2000 – total expense $8000. We are trying to get this covered by the drug manufacturer but I'm not sure if it will be. I'm hoping they take Amex.
We both went back to school after the downturn to upgrade our educations, taking out student loans. We live in a rural area and there aren't many options for work, plus we had a new baby and couldn't afford child care, so taking courses seemed like a good idea. I finished my degree in 2015, and now I'm doing post-grad studies as well. Chris has four courses remaining to get his B.A. We don't know if he'll ever be able to finish.
The Good News:
The good news is the treatment, if Chris has a good reaction to it, is generally very successful. The bad news it that we may have to do it again in a couple of years depending on his response to the chemotherapy. That's our story in a nutshell. I'm grateful to our friends for organizing this for a number of reasons – one is to get the word out to the people who know Chris from his political campaigns and community work – hey there, this is what's happening. There's been no good way to reach everyone, so this may help.
Please reach out & send well wishes, we want to hear from you!
If you know Chris and want to send him your well-wishes – you can link up with him on Facebook @Chris George. https://www.facebook.com/christianleegeorge
You can also email me at [email redacted] and I will pass your comments on to him. We'll be away from our support system so kind words and virtual hugs will be our lifeline while we go through this.
Finally, if you want to donate to help out with the expenses, I wouldn't turn that down. It's a miserable time to be asking, I know, with Christmas right around the corner. So only give if you can and what you can, and never mind if you can't.
And could you knock on wood or cross your fingers or pray to the deity of your choice for us if we cross your mind from time to time?
Every little bit helps.
Thank you.
In love and gratitude,
Samara"
