After a devastating cancer diagnosis, a Port Coquitlam father is finding hope in a U.S. clinical trial — and hoping the community can rally behind his family's online fundraising effort to help pay for it.
It was early this year when Farhad Abbasi, a regular blood donor, discovered something was wrong with his hemoglobin levels. On March 31, he was diagnosed with leukemia and the following day he began intensive chemotherapy.
When that didn't work, Abbasi began a second protocol of chemo but the following bone marrow biopsy showed the leukemia was still there.
He went through a third round of chemo, again with a different cocktail of drugs.
"On July 11, they told me that this round of treatment was not successful either, so they told me they have no more treatment," Abbasi said, the quiet shock still near the surface.
"It was devastating. I'm still young, I have a two-year-old daughter. Everything was so pitch dark and I couldn't figure out how to cope with this situation because literally they said, 'You're going to die in a year.'"
Abbasi's wife, Tina, began searching for options in the U.S. and found a good fit in Seattle. But there was an expensive roadblock.
"At the beginning, their offer was $1 million for a bone marrow transplant," Abbasi said, noting in B.C. he would have to be in remission to be eligible for the procedure.
The other option is the clinical trial for a new type of chemo but that comes with a price tag of $180,000.
"I have a house and can sell it but my leukemia, it's aggressively growing in my body, I need to do something immediately," Abbasi said.
His cousin started a GoFundMe page to help raise money for Abbasi's treatment and for the family's living expenses. Both Abbasi and his wife have been off work from the Coquitlam Town Centre Royal Bank since his diagnosis but their insurance will only cover Abbasi's long-term disability costs, and as his caregiver, his wife gets a limited amount of employment insurance.
"I didn't have the belief that I need to ask people for money," Abbasi said. "It's my problem… As long as they pray for me and have a thought for me, it's worth it. I believe the universe and God will help me to get through this but the community has been really very kind."
The page has so far raised about $50,000 toward the family's $250,000 goal.
• For more info or to donate, visit www.gofundme.com.
[email protected]
@spayneTC
