{"id":7194,"date":"2015-11-19T09:08:29","date_gmt":"2015-11-19T14:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=7194"},"modified":"2018-10-01T13:23:32","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T17:23:32","slug":"forced-to-fight-determined-to-survive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/forced-to-fight-determined-to-survive\/","title":{"rendered":"Forced to fight, determined to survive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every week, I will be profiling an extraordinary human being who lives in our community. If you know someone who is doing something interesting with their life, I want to hear about it. Send me an email at <\/strong><\/em>laura.maclean@doppleronline.ca<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be honest. I knew I was going to get emotional writing this profile. I lost my mom three-and-a-half years ago to cancer and I\u2019m still a mess. She was 58.<\/p>\n

Dave MacDonald is only 38 and he has cancer. I\u2019d never met him prior to our interview and photo shoot, but had heard a lot about him. There have been some fundraisers around town for him. I went to high school with his wife, Karrie. He struggles with the disease every day. And it makes me realize how much I take my health for granted. Here\u2019s a guy who didn\u2019t abuse his body, who always enjoyed the simple things in life like an ice-cold beer and spending time with his family, and now he\u2019s fighting for his life. He doesn\u2019t know how long he has left. He takes it one day at a time.<\/p>\n

\"Home<\/a>

Home is where the heart is for MacDonald<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be happy if I make it to my 40th <\/sup>birthday,\u201d he tells me as we begin our interview.<\/p>\n

<\/broadstreet-zone><\/strong><\/div>\n

Right away, I sense a gentleness about him. Obviously, he\u2019s bummed out. He didn\u2019t ask for this to happen. Life simply threw him a nasty curve ball and he has to deal with it. I immediately try to stifle the tears. I\u2019m going to start bawling and he knows it. I tell him to give me a moment so I can collect myself and get a hold of my emotions. For some reason, I feel selfish.<\/p>\n

I can tell, not just from the things he says about what life is like now compared to what it was even a few years ago, but from the tone of his voice that the cancer is taking a toll on him. Lately his days haven\u2019t been that good. He tells me all about what it\u2019s like waking up in the morning in excruciating pain. He\u2019s on a list of pain meds. Sometimes it\u2019s difficult just to sit up in bed. He has two young kids, Piper, 7, and Lochlin, 5. They are both as energetic as they are cute. He can\u2019t get down to play with them anymore so they usually settle for a card game. His wife is pretty much running the household. She takes care of him, the kids and whatever else needs to be done. She goes to Toronto with him for overnight stays at Princess Margaret. He tells me he doesn\u2019t know how he\u2019d be coping if it wasn\u2019t for her. She means the world to him.<\/p>\n

\"Dave,<\/a>

Dave, his wife Karrie and his two adorable kids Piper and Lochlin in their kitchen where they spend a lot of time together.<\/p><\/div>\n

He was just 14 when he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. He had the cysts removed out of the left side of his neck along with muscle, tissue and lymph nodes and the thyroid itself. He\u2019s been on medication ever since.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, when I look back, I don\u2019t remember a whole lot about the experience,\u201d he says, attributing that to blocking out those memories and chalking it up to a \u201cshitty time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just starting high school, I spent two or three weeks in the hospital and had a radiation treatment. After that, we thought I was 100 per cent clear\u2026 and I was for 23 years until the spring of 2014, when I ended up with pneumonia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pneumonia wasn\u2019t going away. After running some tests and a CT scan, doctors discovered some swollen lymph nodes and a biopsy revealed the cancer was back. Further testing revealed four tumors in MacDonald\u2019s chest. The one that was the size of a tennis ball was crushing the upper lobe of his right lung.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I didn\u2019t get pneumonia, who knows when we would have caught the cancer,\u201d says MacDonald. \u201cIt might have been too late to do anything. So after I had surgery to remove the tumors, I had 33 treatments of radiation that fall and throughout the winter and into 2015. I did it for seven weeks. I healed up, felt good, went back to work but I had to go back from tests and scans, and that\u2019s when the cancer started showing up other places.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cancer has now spread to MacDonald\u2019s liver, pancreas, and made its way into his bones. It\u2019s on his left femur, his hips and both sides of his pelvis. At the beginning of September, he had eight spots in his brain which were treated with 10 rounds of radiation. At the same time, he underwent five rounds of radiation treatment to his hips.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest hurdles has been dealing with the pain. His legs ache constantly. Walking is becoming more difficult. He needs a cane to get around and if he has to walk more than a couple hundred yards he needs a wheelchair. He can barely do a lap around the grocery store.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m starting to decide is it about quality or quantity? That’s what it\u2019s come down to unfortunately.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

MacDonald can\u2019t speak highly enough of his wife, who has been by his side every step of the way. The two have been married for six years. They spent their six-year anniversary in Vegas because he was in the hospital for their five-year anniversary the year before. The things he can no longer do, Karrie makes up for. She is running the household 99 per cent of the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like she\u2019s a single mom with three kids,\u201d he says. \u201cShe has to look after me. And that breaks my heart. If it wasn\u2019t for her I don\u2019t know how I\u2019d get through this. I don\u2019t know how many nights she\u2019s spent beside me in the hospital. We get admitted and then end up having to stay and she\u2019d be sleeping on an uncomfortable cot. But she was there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/a>

Dave says Karrie has been by his side every step of the way through his battle with cancer.<\/p><\/div>\n

He will be on chemotherapy indefinitely.<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically all this is doing is buying me more time. There is no cure. There are days when I wake up and I\u2019m a freaking mess. I mean, I\u2019m done with this. Not being able to do anything anymore and if I do get out of bed, what am I going to do? I just can\u2019t do anything and it\u2019s driving me crazy. My mobility issues are getting worse. With the pain meds, [the doctors] are just trying to make me as comfortable as I can be. But at the same time, I don\u2019t want to just hang out in bed. I\u2019d rather have one year to get out and do things rather than spending the next three years doing nothing or being stuck in bed. I\u2019m starting to decide is it about quality or quantity? That’s what it\u2019s come down to unfortunately.\u201d<\/p>\n

MacDonald tells me about how his life was just getting to where he wanted it to be, having kids and his business starting to take off, when the cancer returned with a vengeance.<\/p>\n

I was hoping after I had that surgery things would somewhat go back to normal. I never made it that far.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A positive aspect through these trying times has been the support the family has received from the local community. Last September, before his first surgery, a fundraiser was held at the Legion to raise money for the costs he and his family have faced during his ongoing battle with cancer.<\/p>\n

More than a month ago, another fundraising event was held at Boston Pizza. Friends of MacDonald\u2019s also initiated a F-ck Cancer t-shirt and sticker campaign where 100 per cent of proceeds continue to go to MacDonald. On December 10, Pete Corbett, owner of East Side Mario\u2019s and a friend of MacDonald’s, is holding a Kick Back Night for him, an event at the restaurant in which a portion of proceeds from meal sales will be directed toward the family.<\/p>\n\n\t\t