Markham mother of two Darmeen Cheung is battling for her life through the ravages of stage 4 lung cancer and could use your help.
The 48-year-old, who has never smoked a day in her life, was struck down with the disease nine months ago when she was diagnosed after a lung biopsy performed at Markham Stouffville Hospital.
It has cost the woman who said she has never “smoked, drank or done recreational drugs,” nearly everything.
Through tears and gasping breaths on a recent afternoon, Cheung said one of the hardest parts of her illness is how it has made her feel as a mother.
“It’s a pull and push. I don’t want them to be too close,” she said of her nine-year-old son Xavier and seven-year-old daughter Amelie, “because life can be taken away quickly.
“But I miss being a mom too.”
Her husband, Stephane Poirier, on leave from his job to look after his wife, is quick to add: “It’s important for you to stay close to them.”
The parents have been clear about what is at stake with their kids.
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“We’ve told them, we haven’t hidden it from them,” said Poirier.
“They can see, they’ve adapted in their own way. They come to me a lot more than they used to. They know mom can’t do it. They’ve asked the very smart questions. ‘Dad, what happens to us, if something happens to you?’ ”
Cheung admits she has considered assisted suicide.
As her husband sits nearby, fighting back tears, Cheung sobs, “I looked into it (assisted suicide). I have to be prepared. First of all, I have young children and I want to be prepared for this, I don’t want to be caught off guard,” she admits.
Her husband, asked if he agrees with her decision to consider ending her life, said he does.
“She’s honest about it. She’s had some pain episodes,” he said.
“We’re not there yet,” he adds.
Cheung concedes the decision to die would be something, “that him and I have to be in complete agreement with.”
But before she considers that step, there is the hope that comes with clinical trials in the United States.
After trying everything the Ontario health system could offer her including rounds of chemotherapy and immunotherapy and finding they were ineffective, Cheung and her husband have embarked on a last-ditch clinical trial in the United States.
The catch is that the trial is not covered under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan and it is very expensive with treatment rounds in Boston at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute costing $50,000 apiece.
So Cheung and Poirier are reaching out to the community and asking for some help.
They have set up a GoFundMe account and have so far raised $14,200 in one month. It’s not bad, but a far cry from the anticipated $310,000 in total costs they expect to have to pay for continued rounds of treatment.
To help Cheung and her family, click on www.gofundme.com/keep-darmeen-alive.
