Peter Shokeir | [email protected]
A local resident with autoimmune disease is aiming to raise $40,000 towards purchasing an ultraviolet (UV) phototherapy unit for Jasper.
Marta Rode said the therapy could be used to help those with skin conditions related to cancer and autoimmune diseases, potentially reducing the need for systemic drugs.
“I think this is a good initiative,” Rode said.
“It will actually be good for the community because it will also bring in people from other remote communities who are closer to us than to Edmonton.”
Rode was diagnosed in 2010 with Wegener's granulomatosis, now known as granulomatosis with polyangiitis.
After going on medical retirement, she started Find the Common Thread Foundation with the goal of raising awareness for autoimmune disease.
The foundation has since dissolved since Rode was the last member of the board and her condition fluctuates.
“For me, when I got diagnosed, I had no idea what autoimmune disease involved,” she said.
“Despite having three people in my family have autoimmune disease, I was kind of self-absorbed and only it took me getting sick to jump into it and figure out that it’s kind of nasty.”
But this new fundraiser comes from the spirit of Find the Common Thread Foundation as the UV phototherapy unit is designed to help those with autoimmune disease who have skin problems.
Rode’s main motivation for purchasing this unit comes from the positive impact that this treatment had on her late father, who had skin lupus.
“It would flare and do all kinds of stuff throughout the last 30 years,” Rode said.
“Dad had another flare in 2016 where his whole body turned into a rash and he was so itchy and he was fighting this for a year, looking for help.”
Her father found relief through the UV phototherapy, which Rode said eliminated the condition within a month and a half.
The therapy requires three-to-four treatments per week with each session lasting less than a minute to start.
The only two locations in Alberta that offer this treatment are Calgary and Edmonton.
“It’s not feasible to drive into Edmonton three-or-four times per week for a treatment that’s less than five minutes,” Rode said.
“I just want that to be available here for people.”
This unit would likely be housed at the Cottage Medical Clinic and run from there with its staff.
Because Rode’s foundation has been dissolved, all funds will be directed to the Jasper Healthcare Foundation through a GoFundMe page at gofund.me/ec8c3af5.
Marmot Basin is also sponsoring, while Rode is putting together T-shirts to sell around Jasper with 100 per cent of proceeds going toward this goal.
