Fighting cancer with love and community
Hamilton police rally to assist fellow officer and his ailing wife
Even when there is cancer, it can be a wonderful life.
When you have spent a lifetime helping others it is truly possible for that kindness to find its way back to you. And not just on Christmas Eve in a Frank Capra movie. But in a home just outside Dunnville, where five kids need a mom, a husband needs his soulmate and Jeanne Berkeley needs a chance.
Jeanne is 55, was a nurse at Joseph Brant Hospital for 18 years. She has a Stage 3 anaplastic oligodendroglioma tumour in her brain. It is at that spot that controls speech, which makes it difficult for her to express herself. So it falls on her husband of 20 years, Rennick Berkeley, to tell her story. Their story.
The Berkeley home is a busy one. Rennick, 50, is a first class constable with the Hamilton Police Service. He’s been there for 13 years and most recently has worked prepping cases for court. Before joining Hamilton, he was a Toronto cop.
The couple’s children are: James, 23, who has a baby girl about to celebrate her first birthday; Tamara, 19; Rennick Jr., 17; Alexander, 15, and Mary, 6. Mary needs a bit of explaining, says Rennick. She was their first foster child. She came to them when she was just two days old. They fell in love with her fast and hard. She is theirs now, adopted into their family, which has gone on to foster 25 or so more children.
In August 2016, Rennick thought his wife was having a stroke. Her speech was slurred, she wasn’t making sense. He asked her to recite the alphabet, and she could only get a few letters in. He rushed her to the ER and she was diagnosed with a brain tumour.
A while later, they learned the tumour was cancer. “We just kind of sat in bed and cried for a bit,” Rennick says. “And just chatted for a while.”
Jeanne’s medical history since then is long and complicated — a delayed surgery, a wrong diagnosis, chemo and radiation.
But there is hope. There is a drug called Avastin that Jeanne’s doctor at the Juravinski Cancer Centre is starting her on any day now. The drug may be a miracle in waiting. So too was the surprise news late Thursday afternoon that Rennick’s insurance company has agreed to pay the $10,000 price tag for the drug, a cost they thought they would have to pay out of their own pocket because it wasn’t covered by OHIP.
That is a great relief, but it does not eliminate their financial stress. Three days a week Jeanne and Rennick make the 90-minute drive from their home to the Health Source Clinic in Kitchener-Waterloo, where there is a doctor who specializes in naturopathic cancer treatments. Jeanne receives IV therapies there and a heat treatment, neither of which is covered by OHIP. Rennick’s health plan covered only a minuscule amount.
So the bottom line is that cancer is expensive. Rennick has taken a leave of absence from work because Jeanne needs his care around the clock. And the younger kids need him at home.
Rennick is a private person. He said little about his personal struggles to his police colleagues until recently, when he decided to take his leave.
But it took only a heartbeat for the service to rally around him. Soon, officers will be able to donate their sick days for him to use. On Dec. 6, they set up a Go Fund Me account for Jeanne’s medical fund, with a goal of raising $10,000. Within five days, that goal was met. Many of the donors are Hamilton cops. Touchingly, the couple who made the $100 donation that hoisted the fund to its goal are Hamilton police members who once leaned on their colleagues because their son was terribly ill and needed treatment not funded by OHIP. Now they’re paying it forward.
The plan is for the fund to continue to grow and help the Berkeley family with all the expenses it is incurring, thereby allowing Rennick to stay at home as her caregiver.
“The fact that so many people have taken up the fight means a lot to Jeanne and I,” Rennick says emotionally. “I can’t do it by myself.”
Then, very quietly, Jeanne musters the strength to speak for herself. “Thank you.” To donate: Go to GoFundMe.com/8ub2qJeannes-medical-fund (or bit.ly/2oaeZgm).