At 10, Karalyn Giron of Richmond has already undergone surgery and radiation treatment to quell a rare and aggressive form of cancer, and is about to have more.
She insists that it doesn鈥檛 bother her.
鈥淚 just go with the flow,鈥� she told a visitor.
Under gentle questioning by her mother, Katelyn Tayler, Karalyn agreed that she didn鈥檛 like the headaches and missing school.
鈥淚 kind of miss my friends,鈥� Karalyn said.
On January, 5th, 2018, her mom was told what she described as the 鈥渨orst news any parent could ever hear.鈥�
A neurosurgeon told Tayler her daughter Karalyn had a supratentorial anaplastic ependymoma, a rapidly growing brain tumour that required emergency surgery, following by proton radiation treatment that was only available in the U.S., in Seattle.
During the first trip south, there was no room at the Seattle Ronald McDonald house, so they stayed in a hotel.
鈥淭hat mounts up pretty quick in American dollars,鈥� Tayler, a working single mother of three, estimated.
After 22 month in remission, Karalyn鈥檚 tumor has returned.
She has had more surgery, and will require another trip to Seattle.
A friend has set up a gofundme page 鈥�,鈥� but so far donations have been slow to come in.
On Saturday (Feb. 1), at Tayler鈥檚 Richmond home, Gerald and Ashley Samborski, a father and son from 91原创, dropped by to make things a little better.
They had raised $5,000 to honour the memory of Adeline Samborski, Ashley鈥檚 mom and Gerald鈥檚 wife, who died in 2013 following an eight-month battle with pancreatic cancer.
In the hospice, her son got to see how, like him, many people were struggling with finances while a loved one was fighting cancer.
His dad helped him out with bills, and after Adeline passed, they decided to help other people in similar situations by raising money.
So far, two families have benefited, one in Abbotsford, and one in Burnaby.
READ MORE: VIDEO: 91原创 father and son help another family fight cancer
On Saturday, Ashley chatted with Katelyn about the emotions generated by seeing a loved one go through cancer treatments.
鈥淚t鈥檚 up and down,鈥� Ashley commented.
鈥淵ou know what it鈥檚 like,鈥� Katleyn observed.
Then, with little fanfare, Ashley handed an envelope to Katelyn, who teared up and gave him a big hug.
Father and son have made some adjustments to the way they raise funds, eliminating a website in favour of a Facebook page to save costs, and abandoning the sale of yellow t shirts with an 鈥渆f cancer鈥� logo.
READ MORE: 91原创 man says 鈥榚f鈥� cancer
鈥淓f cancer鈥� had two meanings, one of them unprintable and the other, for younger or more sensitive readers, was鈥渆veryone fights cancer.鈥�
Now they are calling their home-grown campaign the 鈥淎deline Samborski 5K Give Away鈥� instead.
Ashley explained that the t-shirts didn鈥檛 raise all that much, especially compared to the donations his quietly persuasive dad was able to generate through direct approaches to potential sponsors.
In fact, the Samborksis have raised enough to help another family.
鈥淲e鈥檝e actually got another $5K waiting for a family,鈥� Ashley said.
It will be an informal selection process, where people can suggest worthy recipients or by email.
dan.ferguson@langleyadvancetimes.com
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