A cancer patient’s Christmas wish
A Peterborough woman is appealing to the public in hopes that everyone can come together in the spirit of the season to help a local woman diagnosed with terminal cancer celebrate her last Christmas with her family.
Jaime Williams launched a GoFundMe page to raise money to provide her friend Andrea Cole help in making her last Christmas one she doesn’t have to worry about, filled with memories that her children will remember.
Cole, 45, who worked as a personal support worker at Extendicare, has been unable to work since the diagnosis of cancer about a year ago.
Williams said Cole first started saying she had pains in her pelvic area to the point where she could not sit without severe pain.
“We would be at work and she would be walking in pain,” she said.
“Like it would hurt, it got to where she couldn’t even sit down, she had to lay down because it hurt so much, so she went to the doctors and they found a big tumour in her pelvic area.”
She was unable to work since most of her time was spent going to appointments and in and out of the hospital, Williams said.
“Since she has been in and out of the hospital, she has been back and forth from Sunnybrook and then home for a couple of days then back to the hospital,” she said.
“She hasn’t been able to work this whole entire time and she was supposed to have people come to her house to help her apply for disability and that never ended up happening because she kept going back and forth (to the hospital), so she actually has zero income.”
On Sunday Cole was informed her cancer had returned, more aggressive than before, and doctors were unable to treat it. They believe she only has a month to live.
“The one month to live came out of nowhere and we thought she was going to get better because that is what they (doctors) kept saying,” Williams said.
She has since launched a GoFundMe page for her friend to help pay her bills and provide a special Christmas for the family.
Cole is a devoted mother of two and is expecting her first grandchild in January and just wants to be able to spend one last Christmas with her family and to meet her grandchild, said Williams.
“Her one daughter is pregnant and due on Jan. 13, so she is hoping and praying she makes it to see the baby,” she said.
People can donate via the GoFundMe page at bit.ly/3pSndp7 or by email money transfer to Quietriot44@yahoo.com. As of Tuesday, they had raised $1,285 toward a $10,000 goal.