A Cochrane family struck with tragic news have raised nearly $10,000 in under one week thanks to the community. Chris Lindsey was suffering from severe pains in his side when he finally went to see a health expert. A CT scan revealed he had an enlarged spleen with a mass growing on it. After a four-and-a-half-hour surgery and a six-week recovery, the family discovered this was only the start of their problems. Shortly after in early June, Chris was diagnosed with Stage 3 of an aggressive form of Diffuse Large B Cell Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Chris was the only income earner for his wife and six-year-old daughter, and now he won’t be able to return to work until January 2019 at the earliest. That’s when he decided to start a GoFundMe page and since posting it on July 5, the page had raised $9,295 of their $60,000. “I don’t even know how to put into words how I feel with what’s already been done,” Chris said, who is a parts and services manager at South Trail Hyundai in Calgary. “I guess one of the biggest things is how humbled I’ve been through this, and seeing the support that I’ve been seeing, it’s just unbelievable.” The funds are hoped to be used as a supplementary income during the time Chris is unable to work and completing treatment sessions, the second of which he completed this past Monday. Nenita, Chris’ wife, said usually her family is on the giving side of fundraisers. “Obviously you never wish this to happen to any family and we’ve had people rally around us from the community and the town from the very beginning,” Nenita said. “Chris has shaved his head to raise money for a young fellow that went through cancer who has unfortunately passed away but he raised $5,000 for that family. We’ve donated our time to other head shaves for cancer and different stuff like that.” The Lindsey family extended their gratitude to the community for their outpour of support. “We’re still getting messages of well wishes from people we don’t even know so I just want people to know we hear them, we read them and whether or not they think it helps – it really helps.” Miles Chester, a former colleague and friend of Chris’, said he immediately jumped on board to help since he has been in a similar position. “My son – two years ago – successfully fought testicular cancer and we had to do a GoFundMe page for my son because he was a contractor and when he wasn’t working he had no benefits, he had no income coming in and it was a threat to lose his house,” Chester said, adding that his son is now completely cancer-free. “As soon as I saw the GoFundMe page for Chris, I took the time to forward it to everyone I knew in my Facebook world just to remind everyone that this happened to me and I’m hoping you can support Chris while he fights cancer too. My heart goes out to him.” Anyone interested in donating to the Lindsey family can access their GoFund Me page at www.gofundme.com/a-families-batter-against-cancer.
