The Karpiuk family could use your help

Hey there.

Let me start off by saying this was something I hoped I would never have to do but with recent times and financial hardships it’s something I have to do.

For those that don’t know my name is Allie Karpiuk. I’m George Karpiuk & Kari Karpiuk’s Daughter. Over the last five years we have faced some big hurdles. Some of those hurdles being cancer. Dad (George) was diagnosed in the summer of 2017 with stage four lung cancer. Mom (Kari) was diagnosed with stage two breast cancer just six months later. To say it felt like the ground underneath us had been shattered was an understatement. Both of my parents did chemo and radiation, and they fought extremely hard. There were some serious bumps along the way for mom and some hospital stays. Mom ended up with a blood infection and we almost lost her. Her port started an infection and we didn’t realize right away. We are extremely lucky to still have her here. Mom is now in remission and we couldn’t be happier and or more proud of the battle she fought and won.

Then there’s Dad. The man who was told five years ago he had 6 months to a year to live. HA! Dad showed them lol. He fought hard just like mom. He did some immunotherapy that really seemed to help him for awhile. He kept his attitude positive. The. Entire. Time. Not once did he let cancer define his life. The stubborn Ukrainian in him just didn’t have time for it. The first three years were truly a blessing, it makes me smile just thinking about it. The last two years however. They haven’t been as easy nor as kind. Dad started having pain in his shoulder about two years ago. Shortly around the same time covid started to pop it’s little head out into the world. We were told it was arthritis for awhile. Then maybe it was bursitis, then another itis of some sort. Now try Cortizone shots. Well if that doesn’t work maybe let’s try Percocet for the pain. All the while dad was getting worse. His pain was becoming unbearable. He was in absolute agony. Mom and I had called His doctor at The cancer centre a few times voicing our concerns over his pain and his weight loss. Unfortunately because of covid he couldn’t see dad. That only made things worse. Dad continued to decline and we continued to worry. That brings us to this past April. Dad was finally able to get in for a consultation with his doctor. He had to get a Ct scan done first. As per normal. Dad went and had it done and then went with his buddy Don to get his blood taken, while he was there he got a call from his cancer doctor. “George you need to get into the hospital, your lung has collapsed”

Dad had no idea. The pain from his shoulder had masked the pain from his lung collapsing. Because things had progressed so much dad hadn’t even realized how little air he was getting. So, mom the wonderful

Women she is drove him to the hospital and there he stayed for a few days. He was sent home a couple days before his consultation. The idea being hopefully the lung will repair itself. In the mean time let’s try and get that pain down.

Dad and I went to his consultation and this was the first time his doctor had seen him in well over a year and a half. He took one look at dad and it was written all over his face. He continued to apologize for not seeing him sooner. He talked about the collapsed lung and also let us know the cancer had spread to his liver. He let us know the cancer was spreading and spreading fast. He figured the shoulder pain was related to the cancer. As we all did. Dad was sent home with pain killers and also was told he would be starting radiation. Not even a week later and the ambulance was called to dads house as his pain had reached a new level. I didn’t know that was possible. Dad needed help. He was in a state id never seen him in and he was literally shrinking and deteriorating in front of our eyes. He was sent into the hospital that evening and after 24 hours of absolute craziness we were finally able to get dad a room in the hospital. Little did we know that when we walked out those front doors of his house that day that he would most likely not be coming back. Since dad was admitted into the hospital over a month ago we have learned a lot. He now has lymph node cancer, and bone cancer along side the liver and lung cancer. The pain in his shoulder is caused from the bone cancer and the lymph node cancer. He has a large mass in his shoulder plus the lymph nodes are pushing on nerves. He also has a blood clot in there now as well that’s not making things any easier. They tried to repair dads lung a couple weeks ago… that almost cost him his life. There was a tear in his lung and they introduced air into his body. That air got trapped and couldn’t get out so got stuck in his skin. He blew up like the hulk and it actually closed his airways.

They had to put a tube into dads side in order to save his life. He’s still connected to this tube. Right now it’s sucking the excess air out of his body. Trying to help with the swelling. It’s done a good job. Only thing is it’s extremely uncomfortable and he has to be connected to the wall. There’s a lot going on and I have just scratched the surface.

With all that’s happening with dad I have gone on stress leave, moms working what she can. But between the gas driving to the hospital, the parking itself. Just life in general things are slowly starting to fall apart. We can’t help dad financially, we can’t even really help ourselves. We are a proud family. Especially my father. But I need to ask my friends, dads friends, just the people out there for a hand.

I thank you for taking time to read this. I also thank you for being a part of our lives.

As dad would say…

Cheers!!