by Evan Matthews | [email protected]
Emaciated and near death, Jack White was airlifted from Jasper last summer.
A tumor on his larynx had made it difficult to eat, and the artist and musician had lost 50 pounds.
It was Aug. 30 when worried Astoria Hotel co-workers visited his home to check up.
“He had written a goodbye letter to my sister and me,” sister Hazel Shearer told the Fitzhugh. I find it so hard. The hardest part is him not being able to use his voice any longer. He can’t sing or play his guitars right now. The little things are sometimes harder to take than the big things.”
White was rushed by air ambulance from Jasper to the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton and after an emergency tracheotomy, was eventually diagnosed with aggressive laryngeal cancer. He’s called Jasper home for 12 years and after getting caught in what his sister called the bureaucratic machine, has decided to turn to CBD oil as a therapy as he recovers.
Shearer says the family has raised enough through a GoFundMe campaign for a 12-week trial of the treatment. The oil, a marijuana derivative, can cost as much as $500 a month.
“He was living the life he liked,” Shearer said. “He is an artist and a musician.”
He’s been living with another sister in Edson since his discharge from hospital. The family discovered during the ordeal that his Alberta Health Services coverage had not been active for years.
“We have not been able to figure out why this happened,” she said. “We do know a previous Alberta health care number showed up in their records under his name, but they would not reactivate it. Alberta Health insisted that instead of reinstating his coverage at this crucial time, we had to reapply for his health care coverage.”
Because White was born in Quebec and had no official government ID, the family had to jump through the hoops of reapplying and waiting for his documentation to come in.
Shearer has emailed Premier Rachel Notley and Minister of Health Sarah Hoffman, but said she didn’t hear back from either.
It took three months to get White’s documentation, Shearer says, delaying her brother’s laryngectomy until late November.
A visit to the Cancer Cross Institute on Jan. 26 revealed 10 small nodules have formed in White’s lungs, and nerve damage from his original laryngectomy left him unable to eat again. Shearer says his weight has dropped to 106 lbs., as he is sustaining himself on a diet of tube-fed ISO Source, as well as drinking Ensure.
“My brother Jack is one of the sweetest, kindest and most generous people anyone would be lucky to know.”
Search Help for Jack on the GoFundMe website.
