~ SW

SW is a 36-year-old patient diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer in August 2012. At the time of diagnosis, she was 22 weeks pregnant. She started chemotherapy during her pregnancy and her baby was delivered at 31 weeks. She then had a full course of chemo/radiation, which was completed in December 2012. On January 9 she saw Dr. Dodge on an urgent basis and was found to have recurrence of her disease. At the time of writing this request, the patient was admitted to Toronto General Hospital for a surgical procedure called anterior exenteration. This surgery removes the bladder, urethra, vagina, uterus, and all tissues lateral to the pelvic sidewall. SW is married and has three children. Her husband works in the car manufacturing industry as a moulder, but at this time he is on sick leave, due to anxiety caused by this highly stressful situation. He is currently on Employment Insurance Sick Benefits, thus is he only receiving 55% of his income. Before her diagnosis, SW worked as a waitress and she is now on maternity leave, also receiving Employment Insurance Benefits. She too is only receiving 55% of her salary. At this time this family is not able to meet their regular household expenses. We asked the fund to cover one month of SW’s mortgage ($1,300) and an extra $700 to cover the costs of transportation to and from the hospital plus to assist with general household expenses during this stressful time. The full request was $2,000.

~ BS

BS is a 54-year-old cervical cancer patient who was diagnosed in 2011. She underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment plus brachytherapy, which was completed in April 2012. Unfortunately, she had a stroke in June 2012 and an ultrasound at that time revealed liver and lung metastases. She has recently recommenced chemotherapy. BS is married and has five children ranging in ages from 19 to 37. Before the diagnosis she worked as a personal support worker. Her husband worked as a roofer, but is now on sick leave to an injury. This family has experienced significant financial stress due to the illness. She is currently waiting for her long-term disability benefits to start, so at this time their family income is minimal and she is unable to meet all her financial commitments. We asked for funds to cover two months of her mortgage payments ($1,000) plus two months of their heating and hydro bills ($600) to help reduce their financial strain during this difficult time. The total gift was $1,600.

~ LT

LT is a 34 year old cervical cancer patient, diagnosed in October 2012. She underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment plus brachytherapy. Her treatment is now complete. LT is married and has two daughters, ages 8 and 3. Before her diagnosis, she worked in a nail salon and also tried to be with her children full-time. Her husband works in a factory. LT and her family have experienced significant financial stress, due to the illness. She had been unable to work at all during that time and they were solely reliant on her spouse’s income. His hourly rate is $16.00. We asked the fund to assist this family by paying for one month of their mortgage. This request took place just before Christmas and the gift of $1,200 allowed the patient extra funds to buy gifts for her children for Christmas.

~ RP

RP is a 28-year-old cervical cancer patient, diagnosed in September 2013. She had surgery in October and fortunately the surgeon was able to transpose her ovaries and they were saved. She is married and they had not started a family yet. RP underwent egg harvesting on November 5, 2013 in the hope of having children at a later date. This process cost $5,700. RP and her husband work as cooks at a resort in Muskoka. They both earn about $35,000 each but now that RP cannot work she is on Employment Insurance Sick benefits and at this time she earns considerably less. She is about to undergo 5 weeks of radiation plus chemotherapy treatment so she will have to be in Toronto during that time. Her spouse must continue to work and all her family are in Equator so she will be quite alone here. RP and her spouse went to see the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Lodge and this made RP extremely anxious. She learnt she would have to share a room and typically the residents at the Lodge are elderly. She was very unnerved by this and upset and felt she was unable to stay there so she decided to commute daily. As we spoke about the logistics of that she finally agreed that a commute like that would be impossibly difficult. After doing some research, I located a very small B+B close to the hospital that would give her a monthly rate of $1,500. She plans to stay there and her spouse will come to the city on his days off. We recommended a financial gift of $1,000 for this patient to help cover a) her lost salary while on E.I. Benefits, b) some of the cost of the egg harvesting, c) her transportation to and from Muskoka, and d) some of her accommodation expenses while undergoing treatment.

~ SM

SM is a newly diagnosed 42-year-old patient with stage IV disease and lung and liver mets. There is also some invasion of the bowel and she required an ileostomy. She was admitted to PM from April 7 to May 2 for pain management and she is now undergoing daily radiation and weekly chemotherapy as an outpatient. SM is married and she and her spouse own their home. They have two children: an 8-year-old and a 12 –year-old. Her spouse works for a courier company and she works as an administrator at a museum. They have a very large support network of friends and family and the children have been well looked after. During her lengthy admission to PM her spouse was here daily. Fortunately, his employer has been flexible but he is now receiving a significantly reduced salary. SM is also on a sick leave and has had no pay since March 3. She is waiting for her Employment Insurance Sick Benefits to start. We recommended a financial gift of $1,700 for this patient to help cover one months’ worth of her mortgage ($1,300) and to also help with the very high parking costs incurred during her admission. Clearly this family was struggling financially due to the diagnosis and treatment of her advanced disease and this financial gift eased some of their stress during that very difficult time.

~ SA

SA is a 38-year cervical cancer patient, diagnosed in September 2012. She had chemo and radiation treatment but relapsed with mets in May, 2013. She then went on clinical trials but progressed in February 2014 and again in July, 2014. She had a second round of radiation for metastasis and was about to recommence chemotherapy but she went into a pain crisis in September and was admitted to the Princess Margaret on September 15. During this admission her left leg became severely edematous and septic, which necessitated an urgent transfer to Mount Sinai ICU. That night they did a debridement surgery from her ankle to her upper thigh. She survived the surgery and returned to Princess Margaret with a VAC wound care system in place. Dressing changes were truly excruciating for her and after two of them she was transferred to TGH to have the procedure done in the OR under anesthetic. It is unclear if SA will ever be able to return home from the hospital. SA came with her family to the U.S. as a child from Pakistan. She married and returned with her husband to Pakistan where she studied medicine. She separated from her spouse and returned to Canada and completed her licensing exams here. She was looking for a residency position when she was diagnosed. SA has two children, a daughter who is seven and a son who is 12. She is divorced from her spouse. She was sexually, emotionally and physically abused by her former husband. There have been custody battles and her former husband attempted to kidnap her son. She has had a number of restraining orders placed on him and, fortunately, for the last year there has been no contact. SA has kept her disease a secret from her ex-husband for fear that he would try to use the cancer as a reason to take the children from her. As such, she never accessed the provincial disability program and has remained on general welfare. She was worried that if he knew she was on disability benefits it would work in his favour to claim custody of the children. With this very limited income she has only been able to rent a basement apartment. Fortunately SA has wonderful family support. Her mother lives with them; she has two sisters, a brother, adult nieces and nephews and although they are all in the states they have traveled frequently to Toronto to care for her and the children. I told SA about the Tara Fund and asked her if there was something that would help her right now. She immediately thought of her children and said that they very much need a computer at home for school work. Apparently her children are longing for a Macbook Air. She could not think of anything else. SA could not possibly afford a new computer on her welfare allowance so this gift would be wonderful for them. We requested the cost of the computer plus some extra money to help with getting the children to the hospital and paying for parking; perhaps buying them some new clothes for winter and other incidentals that would help this family. In total we requested $2,000.

~ JC

JC is a 42-year-old cervical cancer patient. She was diagnosed in February of this year and she is undergoing concurrent chemo/radiation. She has two sons: a 5-year-old and a 19-year-old. Her older son studies engineering at McMaster University and lives at the university residence. JC’s home is in Barrie, but during the week she is staying at the PMH Lodge. While she is in Toronto her younger son is living at the home of his babysitter. This babysitter has been her son’s caregiver since he was 1-year-old and they have a very close relationship. Prior to this illness JC was working in a factory that makes gas fireplaces. Since she is not able to work during treatment she has had to go onto Employment Insurance Sick Benefits. As such, her monthly income is approximately $1,720.00. She receives some child support but these payments are not consistent. Her rent is $1,100 and she continues to cover regular household expenses. During this very stressful time we requested from the Fund a payment of $1,100 to cover one month’s worth of JC’s rent, plus $500 to provide additional financial support while she is on a significantly reduced income.

~ CR

CR is a 33-year-old cervical cancer patient. She was diagnosed in February 2013 and is currently undergoing chemo/radiation. She is married and has three children, ages 1, 5 and 10. Her spouse is in the process of applying for status in Canada, but to do so he needs to return to his country of origin to start the process. Up until now, he has been working in construction but it has been difficult for him to find consistent work due to his immigration concerns. Furthermore, as of March 20 he will no longer be in the country, therefore this family will be in significant financial need. CR only receives money from the Child Tax Benefit and intermittent child support from her ex-husband. She is on the waitlist for subsidized daycare and for subsidized housing. She regularly accesses the North York Food Bank. When I first met with CR she was in the process of applying for disability benefits and since March 1 she has been approved. This will cover a number of her expenses but due to her spouses’ lack of work and upcoming departure, covering her rent has been very difficult. The sum of $1,340 from the Tara Fun to was requested to cover CR’s rent for one month. This was to help her catch up on her other expenses that she has had difficulty covering over the last few months.

~ E.O. 

Sarah is a 52-year-old woman, diagnosed with metastatic cervical cancer in 2010. She underwent a hysterectomy plus chemo/radiation. Unfortunately, during the surgery there was an injury to her left ureter. She now has a chronically obstructed left ureter and atrophy of the left kidney. She is undergoing tests to assess her eligibility for a nephrectomy within the next two months. Sarah owns her home and lives there with her 19-year-old daughter and 24-year-old son. Her daughter is at Humber College and her son has almost completed his degree at U of T. She has another son in his early thirties living in Mississauga and he has two children. Tragically, in 2011 her then 18-year-old son and husband were killed in a motor vehicle accident. Before this diagnosis Sarah worked for 10 years as a PSW for an elderly couple. She had to stop work due to treatment and has not been able to return to her physically demanding job due to the complications that have arisen from surgery. Now, without her husband’s income, she is now living off a government widow’s pension, $520/month, and her husband’s workplace pension, $560/month. She has some savings through her husband’s life insurance policy but this money is slowly dwindling as she has to use it to cover her regular expenses. She has started to attend her local food bank. It is Sarah’s intention to return to work as soon as she can. She would actually like to do some retraining and eventually work at Ikea in the kitchen design department. She very much hopes to have the surgery which will relieve the chronic pain she is in and the need for a nephrostomy tube changes every few months. We requested a financial gift to cover two months of her mortgage payments plus some extra cash that would alleviate the need for her to go to the food bank. Her monthly mortgage is $1,250 therefore I requested $2,500 for her mortgage and $500 extra for food for a total gift of $3,000.\

~ AZ 

Jane has been diagnosed with Gestational Trophoblastic disease and she is being treated with 4 to 5 cycles of chemotherapy. While being aware that the Tara Fund is for cervical cancer patients, this young woman’s situation is so dire that we are making this special request. Jane is a 32-year-old woman, originally from Ethiopia. She came to Canada in 2011 with her new spouse but the marriage ended shortly after her arrival. She remained in Canada after the marriage dissolution and has worked in a factory since that time. She has no friends or family here and she rents a room in a house. In May 2013 she returned home and remarried but she has to be in Canada for 5 years before her spouse can apply for residency here. To date she has had two cycles of chemotherapy and she is finding it very difficult to work. She has to stand for 8 hours a day at the factory and due to her fatigue from the chemo she is finding it almost impossible to complete a full shift. She cannot stop working because without income from her job she will not be able to pay her rent. She cannot go on Social Assistance because it will jeopardize her ability to sponsor her spouse. She is in a terrible situation and she is on the verge of becoming homeless with no other option other than going into a women’s shelter. Going into the shelter system is not appropriate for patients undergoing chemotherapy due to issues of hygiene of the other residents, who often have significant mental health issues, and due to the general hygiene of the residence itself. Moreover, becoming homeless would have a very negative effect on Jane’s already fragile psychological state. We initially requested rent and food for 3 months. Her rent is $450 per month and her food is approximately $200 per month. The Fund kindly made an exception for this patient, since she does not match the criteria for our candidates, and awarded this patient $700 to cover one month of her living expenses.

~ D.Z

Diana is a 46-year-old woman, newly diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix. She is about to start 5 weeks of chemo/radiation. Diana is married and has 2 sons, ages 10 and 15. Before this diagnosis she was working as a cleaner and has applied for Employment Insurance Sick Benefits. Her income will be significantly reduced on these benefits. Her husband works full-time in a car manufacturing company. About one year ago they bought their first house and their monthly mortgage payments are $1,500. Diana’s spouse earns $18/hour. He typically works overtime but now that his wife is ill his hours have been reduced so he can accompany her to her treatments. We have just submitted a visitor’s visa request to have Diana’s mother come from Columbia to provide much needed support to this family. Diana and her husband are struggling to meet all their expenses but what they find extremely expensive is the parking costs of coming to the hospital every day. We requested a financial gift to cover the parking costs for the duration of her treatment. Parking is $20 daily and she will be coming for 5 weeks so the total cost was $500 and this is the amount we requested from the fund.

~ MB

MB is a 50-year-old cervical cancer patient. She was diagnosed in September 2013 and she is currently undergoing chemo/radiation. She had an admission to PMCC for excessive bleeding in late November but that is now under control and she has returned home. MB is originally from the Philippines and came to Canada in March 2007 on the Live-In Caregiver Program. On October 12 she was able to bring over her spouse and three children, ages 27, 25 and 22. Her husband began to work as soon as he arrived but this year he broke his hip and has been unable to return to his construction job. MB had to stop work in February due to her symptoms and attempted to go onto Employment Insurance benefits but due to an error by Service Canada, her claim was never processed. She and I reapplied on November 28 and she is still waiting for benefits. One child is working as a nanny, another in a Japanese restaurant and the last has only been able to find part-time work in a store doing inventory. In sum, this family has been living off earnings from the three children over the last 8 months and they are now in significant financial need. Their rent is $1,265 and this family of five live in a 2 bedroom apartment. MB and her family have undergone considerable stress this year. The spouse and kids have had to adjust to a new culture; they have tried to cope with her spouse’s broken hip plus they have had to cope with the MP’s diagnosis of cancer. Overall, they have experienced a significant income shock. With the holiday season coming up and to help them cover one month’s worth of rent, we requested a financial gift for this patient of $1,500.