Cancer victim’s family backs fundraiser for hospital foundation
Three-year-old Konnor Worobec bounces on the couch in his Langford home as his mother, Tricha Worobec, marvels at his energy.
Konnor has bright blue rubber glasses that frame his blue eyes, one of which he calls his “magic eye.” His magic eye is a prosthetic and it’s the reason Konnor is now cancer-free.
When Konnor was six weeks old, he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of retinoblastoma. Worobec noticed her newborn was crying all the time and while giving him a bath, the light hit his right eye in a way that she noticed the pupil was white.
After a series of emergency visits with an ophthalmologist, Worobec and her husband Dustin were told to head to B.C. Children’s Hospital right away.
Konnor underwent ultrasounds and an MRI. Doctors told the family Konnor would have to start chemotherapy immediately. Konnor had six rounds of systemic chemotherapy until he was eight months old.
Worobec remembers the first time she was able to take Konnor outside. He was about four months and he finally got to feel the grass between his little toes. Worobec said she could see the wonder on his face.
“He was so used to being in a hospital room and being in those four walls.”
Further rounds of chemotherapy over the next two years were able to slow the spread of the cancer, but only temporarily. There was a fear the cancer could spread to Konnor’s brain.
Konnor’s doctor told Worobec, “he’ll never be cancer-free if he has that eye.”
A thick cataract formed over Konnor’s eye which prevented doctors from being able to look into it to monitor the cancer.
Six weeks ago, Konnor had his right eye removed and last week, his magic eye was put in.
“Now we can officially say he’s cancer-free, which we’ve never been able to say before,” she said.
Worobec is sharing her story to promote Jeans Day on Thursday, a provincewide fundraiser for B.C. Children’s Hospital Foundation. The campaign has raised more than $20 million for the hospital foundation since it started in 1990. Funds raised this year will go to the Excellence in Child Health Fund, which supports children with the most urgent medical needs.
“They’re not just supporting your child, they’re supporting your whole family,” said Worobec, who acknowledges all the visits to Vancouver were tough on her sixyear-old son, Ronan.
“The families and staff makes an abnormal experience feel normal,” she said. Parents whose children are sick, nurses and doctors share stories with frank honesty, and no one tiptoes around tough or awkward subjects, Worobec said.
“You have to have complete and utter trust in a situation where there’s nothing but fear,” she said. “You’re giving them your most precious gift and they’re giving you back a child that’s healthy.”
Konnor is still at risk of other cancers such at leukemia so he will have to be monitored by B.C. Children’s Hospital until he is 19.
Worobec said Konnor’s experience undergoing scary and invasive procedures means her active toddler is not afraid of anything.
“He’s a go-getter,” she said, as Konnor flips upside-down to do a headstand on the couch. “He’s amazing.”
This Thursday, schools, businesses and families across B.C. and the Yukon will don their “Canadian Tuxedo” or head to toe denim in support of the fundraiser. Jeans Day buttons can be purchased for $5 and lapel pins for $20 at Save-on-Foods, Overwaitea Foods, Price Smart Foods, Urban Fare, London Drugs, Thrifty Foods, IGA and Country Grocer on Vancouver Island.
Anyone who wants to participate in Jeans Day can register online at jeansday.ca.