Funding hope: How financial support made life-saving surgery possible

In 2015, Paula Pestrin was diagnosed with cancer on the right side of her thyroid at the age of 49. After having surgery to remove a large tumour, her doctors told her that they’d been able to take all of it out. Although she continued to have ultrasounds every 6 months after her surgery in 2015, she was not referred to the cancer clinic for any follow-ups.

8 years after her initial diagnosis, Paula noticed an unusual lump on the back of her neck in August 2023. A biopsy revealed that the cancer had metastasized into the left side of her thyroid and lymph nodes.

Fortunately, Paula had her best friend and care partner, Sandra de Haan, by her side throughout her whole cancer experience. Together, they got through many challenges, including facing the cost of cancer care.

When Paula found out the cancer had metastasized, she and Sandra didn’t expect all the out-of-pocket costs they would have to deal with. Many things added up over time – the costs of pain medications, antibiotics and hotel costs while travelling for treatment. Additionally, Sandra’s job as a teacher meant that if she needed to take Paula to appointments, she’d need to take unpaid time off.

Living in Thunder Bay, Paula did not have a doctor in the area who specialized in performing surgery for the type of cancer she had. She needed to travel to Toronto, but she and Sandra couldn’t afford to fly from Thunder Bay. They wanted to delay it for a few months, but the doctors said Paula might not be alive if they waited that long.

At that point, Paula decided not to have the surgery and just enjoy the time she had left. After telling her oncologist that she couldn’t afford the surgery, she and Sandra were referred to Air Daffodil, the Canadian Cancer Society’s program that arranges flights and ground transportation for those who are more than 100 km from treatment. 

“We talked to someone at Air Daffodil who explained it all. She was on the phone with Sandra for at least an hour. I just cried, and I’m not a crier. But really, it was just the relief of knowing that maybe I could see life again that was better than just living with cancer,” Paula shares. “When Sandra hung up the phone and told me they could help us, it was such a relief. We didn’t know that any of this support was available.”

Programs like Air Daffodil need to be funded because if it wasn’t there, people like Paula wouldn’t have been able to have surgery. You can’t draw money from a stone, so we wouldn’t have been able to pay for it. We would just have to accept it how it is. There are so many people who have health issues and it’s supposed to be equal, but it’s not.

Paula and Sandra were also supported by the Canadian Cancer Society’s Travel Treatment Fund, a program that covers some of the costs of travelling to cancer treatments. The funds paid for some of the ground transportation for Paula’s appointments.

In November 2023, Paula was able to get the surgery and as of May 2024, she is now cancer-free.

“I mean it when I say that the Canadian Cancer Society gave me my life back. They saved my life. Otherwise, I don’t know what the outcome would have been,” Paula says.

By funding these amazing programs, you are closing the gap on those that can have care and those who can’t. Now the barriers are gone so we can all have the care that should be afforded to us. To accept my fate – as I may have just lived with [cancer] until I died from it – was a very bleak outlook.