Dying Surrey hero makes a last wish
Campaign raises $10,000 to send dying man to Nova Scotia to see family
Many who have the misfortune of winding up on the notorious “Strip” in Surrey owe their lives to Douglas Nickerson.
They call him “Little Doug” and recognize him by his cruiser bicycle painted with flames which, before his cancer diagnosis, he would pedal up and down 135A Street to respond to drug overdoses using his naloxone kit.
Nickerson, 59, got the bad news in April. With his permission, Dr. Caroline Ferris confirmed by phone that he was diagnosed with untreatable pancreatic cancer and given six months to live.
His death will be devastating for the struggling community.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control calls Nickerson a “harm reduction hero” with good reason: Since an illicit-drug overdose crisis began sweeping through B.C., he’s reversed more than 130 overdoses, most due to fentanyl poisoning.
Nickerson said people remember how he saved their lives, such as “No. 7,” who recently spotted and thanked him. He never forgets the unique ones, like the couple who overdosed together.
“(The Strip is) where my heart is because it’s where I feel useful,” Nickerson said. “Every time I can reverse an overdose, that’s one less the medical profession has to break their neck to get to.”
Nickerson was homeless until last year when he found housing with a friend. He quit using heroin in March. Rumours have already spread that he is dead, however, he insists he’s in good hands at Surrey Memorial Hospital.
But with his days numbered, he is sorting out his bucket list. At the top is a trip to Cape Sable Island in Nova Scotia to visit his parents, who he hasn’t seen in 30 years. He carries a photo of them in his pocket and stays in touch with his mom by phone.
Ron Moloughney, president of the Surrey Area Network of Substance Users, was first to chip in to a GoFundMe campaign to send Nickerson home, which so far has raised more than $10,000.
“He works really hard in this community and he loves this community, and he wants to help people,” Moloughney said.
“But now Doug needs help and it’s about time we stepped up to the plate and did something about it.”
Nickerson said he feels overwhelmed by the support. He plans to travel home in early August.
“It’s phenomenal,” he said. “The trip is coming together.”
Nickerson’s friends Teri Marriott and Camille Payne are helping organize a living wake for when he returns.
Marriott, who met Nickerson two years ago and became his roommate last year, was heartbroken when she heard his prognosis.
“He’s just such a good guy,” she said. “He’s just the most thoughtful, considerate roommate I’ve ever had.”
“He’s a positive role model and a positive light, especially in an area that’s so depressing and down,” said Payne, his friend of five years.
“He could choose to be at home but he chooses to be down here to save people.”
Shayne Williams, executive director of the Lookout Society, said some people describe Nickerson as a “street angel” because of his advocacy for drug users and his work saving lives.
“The opioid crisis would be so much more challenging for the people in Surrey North and that live on 135A Street if it wasn’t for the help from him over the years,” Williams said.
Some days, the Strip sees a dozen overdoses, Williams said. Lookout has trained 500 people to use naloxone and a new supervised-consumption site in the area has provided some relief.
Still, Nickerson remains an exemplar of the selfless humanity Williams has seen among homeless people and drug users on the Strip and in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, he said.
“Saving 130 people is more than most people do in their life, drug user or not,” Williams said.
In his final months, Nickerson plans to continue visiting to the Strip to save people, even though doctors have told him he should slow down.
Some days the pain hits him hard, but he’s not quite ready to give up, he said.
“I feel good about the work I’ve done,” Nickerson said. “I just feel like it isn’t enough, you know? But it’s always that way, isn’t it?”