McCallum Family Help Fund
Let me preface this story by letting you know the circumstances.
This fundraiser is for a co-worker and his immediate family. We want to help them offset past, current and future medical expenses that are not covered, lost wages and travel expenses.
Having said that, they have NEVER asked for help from anyone, and as a matter of fact, here is one of their recent responses when we continued to plead to let us do something to assist them.
"We struggle, yes but we see so many families in the hospital who have it much worse than we do".
Aaron the father will be 37 on April 2, his wife Melanie 37, Billy is 9 and Lex is 3.
Aaron works full time outside in a pallet recycling yard year round (Timberwolf Forest Products in Amherstburg, Ontario).
Regardless of the weather conditions, he never complains about the work conditions, snow, sleet, rain, mud, extreme heat and on and on. He seldom talks about his family at work and attempts to carry the burden from within. We learn about the family circumstances when he asks for time off to deal with the medical issues in the family.
Aaron's wife Melanie, is on call as a supply teacher (part time work when available and when not looking after their children).
Both of their children came into the world with health issues and were diagnosed as infants. Billy, the oldest had an artrial septal defect in his heart, which is a hole between the upper chambers. It caused the right side of his heart to enlarge which would eventually put him at risk. Hence, he underwent heart surgery in 2010 and appears to be doing well.
The daughter Lexie, has Diamond Blackfan Anemia which is a rare genetic disease that causes the body to not produce red blood cells. Her treatment is actually also one of the biggest risks she faces. She is transfusion dependent, has one every 3-5 weeks which causes iron to build up in her body. She takes a chelating medicine to offset this each morning.
She is also more likely to catch infection and has to be watched carefully for fever.
She is more likely to develop more severe symptoms when she picks up infection.
In addition Lex has the same atrial septal defect that Billy had. Her cardiologist has said she will likely also need open heart surgery to correct it, within the next few years. Initially, Lex had most of her transfusions done at Victoria Children's Hospiral (part of the London Health Science Centre) , but once she had her port implanted, they started to do the transfusions in Windsor. She still travels to London to see here hematologist on a regular basis and annually to see her cardiologist.
The benefit program where the father works does little to cover their out of pocket medical expenses, and over the course of the last few years , the family has been fortunate in seeking assistance through Government (Trillium and Exceptional Access Program )programs to help offset some of these expenses. They currently pay a deductible of $2800.00 per year (in four installments ) , but having said that, not everything is covered.
With ongoing hospital trips to either the local Hospital in Windsor or in London (approx 100 miles away) both Aaron and Melanie are by the children's side for each and every visit. None of the time off work is covered, so they not only struggle with the medical bills, but also with the lost wages as the trips arise. Their employers - without question - consistently grant off any time that is required as the needs arise, but it is upaid.
The mother (Melanie) deals with high blood pressure, anxiety and depression, all of which are under control through medical treatments and counseling.
The father Aaron, (despite all of the stress ) until recently had been doing well, until he started experiencing internal bleeding and was admitted to Hotel Dieu Grace Hospital in Windsor. As it would turn out, the father (which is the family breadwinner), was diagnosed with a tumour in the colon, and is scheduled for surgery shortly and will be off from work for an extended period. They will be removing the tumour along with a section of his colon.
The family is not only dependant on Aaron as a father and breadwinner, but also counted on him as the driver for the family. As Melanie, does not drive, this now adds another level of undue stress for the family.
When I spoke with Aaron about being off, he responded by saying "how much he enjoys the additional time that he gets to spend with his daughter now" rather than complain about how the family is experiencing yet another set back.
They are a wonderful family. Aaron being dedicated and a hard worker, it is unfortunate to see how these setbacks continue to add an increasing stress level to their existing burden.
My (our) goal is to attempt to get them some funding so that it will take the financial worry / burden off their shoulders for the time being to enable them to continue to live without additional hardship or added stress.
On behalf of the McAllum family, I want to personally thank everyone that contributes, whether financially, or spiritually as we continue to wish Aaron a speedy recovery, as well as Melanie , Billy and Lex.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
