Husband waits for new heart, wife battles cancer
When Shelley Caughlin’s husband Ron was admitted to a London hospital, she knew she would have to put her life-saving cancer treatment on hold.
Ron has struggled with cardiomyopathy, an incurable heart disease, for 16 years, and had surpassed his life expectancy. In May, he was admitted to a Windsor hospital for 12 days after quickly gaining 35 pounds of fluid. His kidneys, which normally filter out excess liquid, were shutting down and the right side of his heart was failing.
Doctors told him it was time to start the heart transplant process. On the same day in June that Shelley was supposed to undergo radioactive iodine therapy for thyroid cancer, Ron was transferred to London. There, a medical team inserted an intra-aortic balloon pump to keep his blood flowing. Shelley decided she had to be with her husband.
“This is more urgent,” she said in a phone call from London. “We’re moving in the right direction.” Now, 56-year-old Ron is in a London hospital bed waiting for a new organ with a nurse monitoring him around the clock. On his good days, he can stand up and take a few steps. Saturday was a good day, according
to Shelley. The transplant could happen any day now. Once it does, Ron will have to remain in London for three months while he recovers. Shelley plans to stay with him. Her cancer treatment will be rescheduled for some time after Ron has healed.
Shelley was diagnosed with Stage 3 papillary thyroid cancer in October 2015. At that time, she had surgery to completely remove her thyroid gland in Windsor, followed by a radioactive iodine treatment to destroy any remaining thyroid tissue. Two years later, cancerous lymph nodes had spread to her chest and neck, so she underwent a second surgery in London. The second surgery was far more successful than the first, said Shelley, so this next round of radioactive iodine treatment is less pressing. Doctor’s OK’d her wait until September.
It takes a village and we have a pretty amazing village ... it’s important for me to be here every day with my husband.
The thyroid gland’s proximity to the vocal chords meant Shelley’s surgeries had the potential to prevent her from ever speaking again. Although she still has a voice, it’s lower and slightly gravelly now. She’s lost the ability to sing, which she once did daily.
“My kids and I, we loved to sing,” said Shelley. “Now they sing for me.”
Her children, Ben, 17, Grace, 15, and Averie, 14, are all in London by Ron’s side, too. “It takes a village and we have a pretty amazing village,” said Shelley.
“It’s important for me to be here every day with my husband,” she said.
Ron must keep a positive mental state to stay on the transplant list, so Shelley said letting him feel isolated is not an option. Shelley has taken time off from her job as an administrative assistant to stay in London.
Currently, she has a hotel room booked for three months, but the longer Ron waits for a heart, the bigger the hotel bill will be for the family.
Part of Shelley’s treatment involving a $2,000 drug injection not covered by OHIP creates an additional expense.
A GoFundMe page for the family called Hearts Helping Hearts was set up by Shelley’s sister, Tammy Meloche.
Meloche’s message on the webpage states, “our hope is to provide financial aid to help them keep up with living expenses, treatment and travel, and not be worried about the financial burden this will undoubtedly create.”
She adds, “If you know Shelley and Ron, you know that the last thing they would want to do is ask for help.”