The "You Are Strong" Project
Donation protected
Our Girl:
Joyce and our son Jeremy started dating in October, 2019. She has pretty much become our third kid! We’ve spent many hours together over the last year plus...from Christmas tree hunting last winter to moving furniture during our upstairs reno last spring to regular suppers together, half of the time at our house!
Pre-Covid, Jer and Joyce were the teenage couple sitting together at Tim Horton’s...talking for hours. We’re very proud of the two of them and how their relationship has grown. When Covid hit back in the spring, we kept the two of them apart, doing “our part.” They visited every day using technology, creating and playing homemade Battleship games, for example. It was a great day when we combined Joyce's family of three with our family of four as our Covid "bubble."
Family games nights became a regular thing, alternating between the two houses. We all got to know each other quite well over the months!
In the early summer, Joyce started experiencing pain in her hip. Nothing could really provide long-term relief...heat, cold, exercise, rest, physiotherapy. She was mis-diagnosed for months, thinking it was an inflammation of the SI joint.
Fast forward to September. Joyce and Jeremy began their grad year of high school. And a couple weeks into school start-up, the pain increased to where Joyce could not walk on her own and a doctor ordered emergency scans because she suspected something more serious was causing the pain. That was when we all learned that Joyce had Ewing’s Sarcoma – a malignant tumor in her pelvic bone. She's 17 years old.
Joyce and her mom, Irma, were immediately off to Children’s Hospital where her medical team began a plan involving chemo, radiation and possibly surgery. The two of them will be there until at least sometime in June, 2021. To date, she has had to undergo much poking and prodding, countless drugs, more drugs to counter the effects of the first drugs, blood transfusions...the list is huge - too much to document here – and growing.
Her dad, Mark, owns a business in Vernon and has been driving to see them each weekend, taking time off work, and delivering letters and care packages with each trip.
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You Are Strong - the song:
A few weeks before Joyce’s diagnosis, a friend of mine was experiencing a rough patch. I was inspired by his story to write a song about having strength through such times. Most of the song flowed from my pen in under an hour. At that point, I did something I’d never done before: though the song was in its early stages of development, I played it for Jeremy and Joyce who were watching TV together at our house. I told them I wanted to make the song universal enough to touch anyone experiencing a tough go, regardless of the specifics. I played it for them and immediately knew the song needed a bridge, which scripture provided in the next ten minutes. I took my guitar into our back yard, propped up my cell phone, and recorded a rough version of the song to share on social media.
It was immediately and emphatically obvious to me, following Joyce’s diagnosis, that the song was for her. When she got to Children’s Hospital, she told me that she had illegally downloaded the audio into her phone (I decided to let that slide...ha).
In the weeks from September until now, and without Joyce knowing about it, I started a studio recording project including You Are Strong. Jeremy is the drummer, and our daughter Jessica is singing harmonies!
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The Project:
Costs connected to treatment, drugs, and their stay in Vancouver will increase. But here’s the thing: Amounts are unknown...and the timeline is unknown.
1. Some of the drugs will not be covered indefinitely, one of them is needed to bring Joyce's blood counts back up after every round of chemo and costs around $3,000 per month, for example.
2. From now until at least June, Mark spends on gas money back and forth each weekend.
3. Joyce and her mom need groceries while staying at Ronald McDonald House; essentially they're having to maintain two households.
4. One unexpected twist is that Joyce and her mom will need to make a trip across the line to Seattle right after Christmas and stay for 8 weeks of special radiation treatments. Gas, meals, hotel...and when they return to Vancouver it'll mean staying in a hotel to quarantine before being allowed back into Ronald McDonald House.
5. The most expensive drugs are covered until April, but there's uncertainty whether they'll be covered after that.
6. Staying at Ronald McDonald House (RMH) is currently paid for until the end of this year; will it continue?
7. With increasing Covid numbers, will staying at RMH even continue to be an option long-term? Or will the ladies need to find a hotel?
8. Even after June, there will be many follow-up trips to the coast, probably for at least 5 years.
Again, there's a lot we don't yet know and things are changing fast right now...but all of these things add up.
With your donation to help Joyce’s family’s expenses, I’d be honoured to thank you by sending you a copy of the song You Are Strong. With the ups and downs of life, chances are there's someone else in your circle who would benefit from its message of hope. The song has already made its way to Australia with love for a fella who just lost his wife to cancer.
Your prayers are also welcome and encouraged; you’ll be part of a growing prayer army, as I call it.
Joyce and our son Jeremy started dating in October, 2019. She has pretty much become our third kid! We’ve spent many hours together over the last year plus...from Christmas tree hunting last winter to moving furniture during our upstairs reno last spring to regular suppers together, half of the time at our house!
Pre-Covid, Jer and Joyce were the teenage couple sitting together at Tim Horton’s...talking for hours. We’re very proud of the two of them and how their relationship has grown. When Covid hit back in the spring, we kept the two of them apart, doing “our part.” They visited every day using technology, creating and playing homemade Battleship games, for example. It was a great day when we combined Joyce's family of three with our family of four as our Covid "bubble."
Family games nights became a regular thing, alternating between the two houses. We all got to know each other quite well over the months!
In the early summer, Joyce started experiencing pain in her hip. Nothing could really provide long-term relief...heat, cold, exercise, rest, physiotherapy. She was mis-diagnosed for months, thinking it was an inflammation of the SI joint.
Fast forward to September. Joyce and Jeremy began their grad year of high school. And a couple weeks into school start-up, the pain increased to where Joyce could not walk on her own and a doctor ordered emergency scans because she suspected something more serious was causing the pain. That was when we all learned that Joyce had Ewing’s Sarcoma – a malignant tumor in her pelvic bone. She's 17 years old.
Joyce and her mom, Irma, were immediately off to Children’s Hospital where her medical team began a plan involving chemo, radiation and possibly surgery. The two of them will be there until at least sometime in June, 2021. To date, she has had to undergo much poking and prodding, countless drugs, more drugs to counter the effects of the first drugs, blood transfusions...the list is huge - too much to document here – and growing.
Her dad, Mark, owns a business in Vernon and has been driving to see them each weekend, taking time off work, and delivering letters and care packages with each trip.
-----
You Are Strong - the song:
A few weeks before Joyce’s diagnosis, a friend of mine was experiencing a rough patch. I was inspired by his story to write a song about having strength through such times. Most of the song flowed from my pen in under an hour. At that point, I did something I’d never done before: though the song was in its early stages of development, I played it for Jeremy and Joyce who were watching TV together at our house. I told them I wanted to make the song universal enough to touch anyone experiencing a tough go, regardless of the specifics. I played it for them and immediately knew the song needed a bridge, which scripture provided in the next ten minutes. I took my guitar into our back yard, propped up my cell phone, and recorded a rough version of the song to share on social media.
It was immediately and emphatically obvious to me, following Joyce’s diagnosis, that the song was for her. When she got to Children’s Hospital, she told me that she had illegally downloaded the audio into her phone (I decided to let that slide...ha).
In the weeks from September until now, and without Joyce knowing about it, I started a studio recording project including You Are Strong. Jeremy is the drummer, and our daughter Jessica is singing harmonies!
-----
The Project:
Costs connected to treatment, drugs, and their stay in Vancouver will increase. But here’s the thing: Amounts are unknown...and the timeline is unknown.
1. Some of the drugs will not be covered indefinitely, one of them is needed to bring Joyce's blood counts back up after every round of chemo and costs around $3,000 per month, for example.
2. From now until at least June, Mark spends on gas money back and forth each weekend.
3. Joyce and her mom need groceries while staying at Ronald McDonald House; essentially they're having to maintain two households.
4. One unexpected twist is that Joyce and her mom will need to make a trip across the line to Seattle right after Christmas and stay for 8 weeks of special radiation treatments. Gas, meals, hotel...and when they return to Vancouver it'll mean staying in a hotel to quarantine before being allowed back into Ronald McDonald House.
5. The most expensive drugs are covered until April, but there's uncertainty whether they'll be covered after that.
6. Staying at Ronald McDonald House (RMH) is currently paid for until the end of this year; will it continue?
7. With increasing Covid numbers, will staying at RMH even continue to be an option long-term? Or will the ladies need to find a hotel?
8. Even after June, there will be many follow-up trips to the coast, probably for at least 5 years.
Again, there's a lot we don't yet know and things are changing fast right now...but all of these things add up.
With your donation to help Joyce’s family’s expenses, I’d be honoured to thank you by sending you a copy of the song You Are Strong. With the ups and downs of life, chances are there's someone else in your circle who would benefit from its message of hope. The song has already made its way to Australia with love for a fella who just lost his wife to cancer.
Your prayers are also welcome and encouraged; you’ll be part of a growing prayer army, as I call it.
Organizer and beneficiary
Kevin Bader
Organizer
Vernon, BC
Irma Bak
Beneficiary
