GoFundMe page raises more than $25K for Sask. boy with rare genetic condition
A Martensville family is getting support from the community as their 15 month old son battles a rare genetic condition.
In January, Jack’s parents Leslie and Phil Duval started noticing purple spots on his stomach. In March, Jack was diagnosed with a condition called Wiskott Aldrich Syndrome (WAS). Leslie says the condition has left him with critically low platelets, the average for someone his age is 160 to 400, while his are as low as 3. He also has auto immune deficiencies and eczema.
Leslie is paediatric emergency nurse at Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital in Saskatoon. Now she has to sit back and be a mom of a patient.
“It’s harder than I thought it would be to sit back and be a mom instead of a nurse,” said Leslie “I definitely have a lot more empathy towards the families that come into the hospital now.”
Since Jack’s diagnosis, the family has been forced to take five extended trips to the hospital. Currently they make weekly trips for blood work and appointments.
“It’s been extremely difficult. The thing with this syndrome he has is there is a lot of unknowns,” said Phil.
The only cure for his syndrome is a bone marrow transplant.
“It’s hard to sit back and watch your kid go through poke after poke for IVs for blood work,” said Leslie.
The family is trying to stay positive, as their optimistic for a bone marrow transplant in the next few months. When it happens, the family will have to stay sixth months in Calgary.
“It's going to be an uphill battle. It’s not an easy fix.” said Leslie “We have our doctors working really hard right now to try and find the perfect match.”
Leslie and Phil will both have to take time off work to travel for the transplant and their stay in Calgary. A GoFundPage has been launched by friends to help pay for mortage payments, bills, and maintaing two residence along with any medical expenses.
“It’s been incredible to have Melissa and Alanna (GoFundMe organizers) and everybody involved step up for us and help us out.”
In just under two months, the page has raised over $25,000 dollars.
“We’re just trying to be a force behind Leslie and help her as much as we can,” Alanna Franey, a fellow nurse and friend. “It’s not easy watching one of your close friend and struggle with a child who’s sick.”
For the person who has seen a lot in her five years as a nurse to sick children, she knows the staff, the same ones she still goes to work with, are working hard to ensure her kid, can just be a kid.
“He can go to school, play with friends. We don’t have to worry so much about simple little things.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in U.S. if legal options fail, Reuters sources say
TikTok owner ByteDance would prefer to shut down its loss-making app rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the U.S., four sources said.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Here's why Harvey Weinstein's New York rape conviction was tossed and what happens next
Here's what you need to know about why movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction was thrown out and what happens next.
Improve balance and build core strength with this exercise
When it comes to cardiovascular fitness, you may tend to focus on activities that move you forward, such as walking, running and cycling.
Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.