Testimonial | My child’s cancer like a second mortgage

Cancer comes into your life uninvited. One day and everything changes. One morning, you wake up and you go to kiss your child in his bed. In the evening, you do the bedtime routine in a hospital bed… Love is the same, but nothing is the same.

In March 2020, when the whole planet stopped, me, my world came crashing down: “Ninety percent of your son’s blood is cancer cells,” the doctor told us. When my boy Jayden was only 17 months old, he was diagnosed with leukemia.

Everything is different. Our priorities change. The battle begins and it is a struggle that requires a lot.

Leukemia is never budgeted

Between Mont-Laurier and Montreal, our life becomes enormously complicated. Both in the journeys and in the financial cost of cancer. Maintaining a balance in family life and accessing care is expensive. To bring Jayden to Montreal, I had calculated what it would cost us. Travel is $1,200 a month. It’s like a second mortgage.

We didn’t know what to do at first. You are collapsing. Jayden’s leukemia wasn’t in our budget. If the first weeks were complicated, my partner and I managed to build a stable framework to accompany our boy in his fight against the disease.

Work stoppages, trips to Montreal, parking fees at the hospital… several budget revisions were necessary to reach the end of the month. This financial burden has added to the immense stress one feels as a parent.

In this whirlwind, Leucan supported us financially and helped us find our bearings. Their support allowed us to alleviate our suffering and loneliness.

My reality is that of many parents of children with cancer.

With the holiday season fast approaching, I think of all those families who will have to stay in the hospital for their child’s treatment. While the holiday season is synonymous with joy for most, for these families it is more of a time of great loneliness. In exchange for a donation^⁠1 which will be used to help other families like mine with these unforeseen expenses, the population has the power to break the isolation of families by sending them a greeting card filled with love and hope.

I confirm that small attentions like a greeting card put a balm on the heart of the parents whose universe is completely shaken following a diagnosis of cancer in their child.