My pa, my hero — in two months, he went from healthy, to choosing MAID (Medical Assistance In Dying) after a brutal fight with stage 4 gastric cancer.
It began December 24 with a worrying ultrasound; he couldn’t eat, lost weight rapidly, and spent weeks seeking tests and care from his family doctor who was away on vacation — waiting rooms, trying to convince healthcare professionals that he was suffering, unable to get timely medical attention, and being told he wasn’t “sick enough.” We then resorted to private IVs while we saw him suffering at home. After finally being admitted, he endured chemotherapy. On February 18, 2026, exhausted and in pain, knowing that the treatment isn’t going to make him better, he chose to say goodbye to the world.
He is my champion — he nurtured my passion for technology, and quit his full time job so that he could homeschool me, touch the lives of hundreds of students as a self-employed tutor, and travel with me to every keynote. His last words were to keep going and finish what he couldn’t.
He wanted others to have a chance at a cure so he decided to donate his body for research and to donate his organs to help other Canadians. No family should have to live through this horrific, heartbreaking experience; a man quietly suffering while being denied the care he needed during his countless visits to the ER.