A GoFundMe page is trying to raise money for a Richmond dad, who has been fighting an aggressive nose cancer for the last eight months.
Friends of Kevin Arcand kicked off the online fundraiser to help the family offset medical bills associated with his treatment for the rare SCC (squamous cell carcinoma) in his nose.
Father-of-two Arcand, 52, who lives near No. 1 and Blundell roads, has not been able to work for the last six months or so.
According to the GoFundMe page, Arcand felt what he thought was a small pebble in his nose in October last year.
After numerous visits to his GP, he eventually got a CT scan in January of this year, before finding out the bad news shortly afterwards.
In February, Arcand then had to undergo painful surgery, which involved removing his nose and rebuilding it with bone from his left wrist and skin grafts from his wrist and forehead.
He has recently finished 12 weeks of radiation therapy and, in an update posted on the page last week by his wife, Sherry, she said “the radiation kicked him in the ass so to speak. His face is swollen still and the doctors say just keep doing what he is doing (mouth rinsing, nose rinsing, eye drops, cold compresses and ice packs).
“He still has issues breathing and today everything he drank came out his nose. He has to have a PET scan and MRI in September and then sees the surgeon early October to see what his next steps will be.”
She said they never realized how important eyelashes were (he only has about nine on his upper left eye and none on the bottom) as his eye is constantly irritated.
Sherry added that they are still waiting for CPP disability to accept Arcand’s claim so that “he has some money coming in; medical EI is done, so now it’s a tight ship at home.”
She added that she’s taking the next two weeks off work to help her husband heal and spend time with him.
“We’ve got to get him back to normal so he can get back to work.”
Arcand’s friends have set a $25,000 goal, which was at $7,570 on Monday morning.
If you want to donate to the cause, go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-kevin-arcand-family-with-medical-bills
