Quesnel sisters Haleigh Fenton and Cassidy Cole are walking to raise money to honour their dad while supporting and celebrating him in his final days.
On May 24, 2024, Quesnel resident Wade Fenton suffered a focal seizure, which affects one specific area of the brain. When in hospital, Wade underwent a CT scan and doctors found a mass.
The doctors were very reassuring to Wade, his wife Dani Fenton, Haleigh and Cole, saying that masses like the one found are benign 90 per cent of the time and if cancerous, it's usually a low-grade cancer.
"We were kind of hopeful at that time," Haleigh told Black Press Media.
Wade spent a few days in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and booked an appointment to have the mass removed in Vancouver.
Exactly two months later, on July 24, he had brain surgery, while awake, in Vancouver, where he was talking and making jokes with the team of 18 surgeons, doctors, and nurses performing the operation on him. In that surgery, the doctors were able to remove 95 per cent of the mass, but the surgeon told Wade and the family that they didn't like the look, colour, and shape of the mass.
Parts of the mass that were removed were taken for testing while Wade was back home in Quensel two days later, living his life normally, just with some stitches in his head.
Sixteen days later, the doctor called. Wade was diagnosed with terminal glioblastoma cancer, a cancer that has a low success rate to begin with.
The doctor told Wade he had four months to live without treatment and a year if he went through chemo and radiation.
"That was like a huge like gut punch," said Cole. "How is this actually happening?"
At that time, Haleigh was living in Vancouver, working for the Vancouver Canucks. The day after the diagnosis, she moved home.
Wade made countless trips back and forth between Quesnel and Prince George for radiation and chemo, including going every Monday-Friday in October. After that, he took six weeks off and then started again for six months, where in that stretch he would undergo five consecutive days of chemo and then take 21 days off.
Early in the process, Wade asked one of his doctors, "What causes this?" The doctor replied "you know what Wade, it's just bad f****** luck, I don't know what to tell you, we've done endless research on what could cause any damage to the brain. It's just impossible to know because there are just so many factors that go into it. We want people with brain cancer to live longer."
In April, Wade finished his last chemo appointment, and the family received word that while he still had cancer, the tumour had gotten smaller.
Over a year later, Wade is still alive, and the family celebrated the fact on July 24, a year after surgery.
"One year is significant because most patients with glioblastoma have a one-year survival rate of less than five per cent, so it's really special," said Haleigh.
At the party, Wade said, "I'm on bonus time now," Haleigh recalled. Since the celebration, Wade and Dani also got to celebrate their 24th anniversary on Aug. 4. Additionally, when Wade was first diagnosed, Cole was pregnant with her second child.
"He didn't think he would get to meet baby Charlie, but he did, and he's been loving it," said Haleigh, who added her dad also got to see Cole get engaged in December. "These are the kind of milestones you don't think you're going to get."
But Wade has also made the most of his remaining time since the diagnosis. On top of treatment, he's been completing his bucket list, including going to a NASCAR race (where he got to go for a ride in a pace car), seeing AC/DC in concert, and going to Cuba. As well, he has attended many Canucks games in a suite thanks to Haleigh's work.
On top of making it over a year and completing his bucket list, one of the most special memories for the family occurred in January, when a fundraiser was held for Wade in Quesnel.
"We had almost 300 people come out," said Haleigh, who added they couldn't fit everyone into the venue. "It was really great, it was really nice for my dad... It's totally reflective of my dad's personality."
As Wade was born and raised in Quesnel, the majority of people in attendance were family and old friends, where people shared their stories and gave speeches about Wade.
Throughout the entire journey, the family has been doing everything they can to ensure Wade lives as long as he can, from researching other treatment methods and medical trials in other countries to planning family vacations to make the most of their time, including going to Quesnel Lake for the Labour Day long weekend, Wade's favourite place.
Haleigh said everyone in the family has been handling the last year differently and in their own way.
"My mom is the eternal optimist, so she's taken a long time to kind of come around to the idea of a terminal diagnosis," said Haleigh. "But I think she's really kept the family positive and hopeful, which has been really something that we needed."
"My dad is a very factual, logical person; he has no fears. He is very calm about this whole thing."
Unfortunately, a few days after the one-year celebration, the family received bad news as the newest MRI revealed that Wade's tumour had quadrupled in size, now affecting one of his eyes as well.
"It's really sinking in now for everyone," said Cole, adding that Wade is starting to lose his short-term memory. "Things are getting pretty real now."
But Wade is still very happy and peaceful, the sisters said.
However, Haleigh and Cole explained that the doctors told them that with glioblastoma, a patient can backslide really quickly.
"Everyone just wants to come and give him some hugs," said Haleigh.
Haleigh and Cole said experimental trials aren't very effective, hard to qualify for, and most patients die before being able to take part in them. They added general treatment like chemo and radiation, like what Wade went through, and kept him alive longer, which hasn't changed too much over the last few years, because each brain tumour is different and has very specific genes.
"The treatment options for glioblastoma are so minimal, and that's for a bunch of reasons," said Haleigh. "The first one being that doctors are really nervous to mess around with the brain, anything that you put in the brain can just cause so much more damage than it's worth."
And this is why Haleigh, Cole, her two kids, and the whole family are walking 50 kilometres in September - for their dad and for everyone else going through a similar fate.
"Unless some miracle drug comes out tomorrow, I think we've done all that we can do," said Haleigh. "But the hope is that families like ours will have a chance in the future."
Money has been raised to support the family over the last year, but the sisters want to help find advanced brain cancer treatments, with all money raised going to the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) to help with glioblastoma research. Haleigh got the idea from a CSS advertisement she saw online.
Haleigh organized the team, Wade's Warriors on the CCS website, where $3,300 has already been donated. She also has her own page, which has raised an additional $310.
"And it's not even September yet, so it's really special and means a lot to my dad," said Haleigh. "Every single day, he asks who's joined the team."
Anyone who wants to donate or partake can, as there is no set route. Everyone can complete the 50 kilometres on their own time throughout the month of September.
"It's basically just to raise awareness," said Haleigh, who wants to make her dad's story known. "My plan is to walk every day and post about it online and say that I'm getting my steps in and the reason."
Everyone who joins the team and is participating in the walk will track their progress on Strava for everyone else to see, and anyone can join from around the world.
Haleigh posted a video on social media announcing the walking fundraiser. What she wasn't expecting was the renowned response she got.
"I posted the video on TikTok, and the number of people who've reached out from across the world, like Australia and the UK and the States, with their families going through the same thing, it makes my sister and me feel more connected and less alone," said Haleigh.
Haleigh joked that everyone in town knows The Fentons. Wade worked locally in the lumber industry his whole life, starting in high school when he joined his dad and brother at CNC Lumber.
"They've always worked together basically their whole life," said Haleigh.
Recently, Wade and his brother were able to check one more item off the bucket list - fully restoring their dad's car, a Buick Grand National.
"They've been restoring that car since childhood," said Haleigh. "Now they've been going on drives and everything, and I think that project has meant a lot to my uncle specifically. That's kind of something they do just the two of them."
Wade's parents have been part of Wade's cancer journey as well.
"Obviously, it's awful for them to have to go through this with their kid, but what a privilege for my dad to have both of his parents right now," added Haleigh.
Anyone who wants to join Wade's Warriors and the 50-kilometre walk in September can do so on the CCS fundraising page - https://fundraisemyway.cancer.ca/teams/7720.
