Lindsey Van Roon, a single mom of two from Aldergrove, is the 76th person in the world fighting one of the rarest types of cancer after being diagnosed following Mother's Day.
On May 12, shortness of breath and feelings of losing consciousness brought her to the emergency room at Langley Memorial Hospital, and just five days later, the 36-year-old mother underwent open heart surgery to remove a tumour.
Her diagnosis was cardiac intimal sarcoma, one of the rarest forms of cancer that has a mean survival rate of three months to one-year, according to a U.S. case study.
"It's scary. [Being diagnosed] is the same odds as winning the lottery, and I'd have rather won the lottery," Van Roon commented. "There's not a lot of research around it."
After her open heart surgery, doctors advised Van Roon that she could be eligible for a heart transplant if the cancer didn't spread to other parts of her body.
But only a few weeks later and after many more tests, cancer was found to be spreading quickly. Now, Van Roon is going through various types of chemotherapy to kill the cancer cells.
She says there has been a lot of invested interest from the global medical community of her case.
"I said yes, everybody look at it please, as much as you can. We're consulting with people about options that aren't even known in Canada... it's overwhelming to know there's so many eyes looking at your file, the best of the best, but it's been good."
Admittedly, it can take a toll on Van Roon with up to 10 appointments in one week, but she said the doctors' interest gives her hope.
"At the end of the day, I'm grateful. They always present another option to try," she shared.
She said the support around her has helped empower her battle.
"I'm able to wake up and embrace the day and embrace my children with energy that might not have been there without [the support]."
Classmates from her daughters' schools have been writing to her, they ran for her in the Terry Fox runs, and many others are sending their support in small ways that mean a lot to Van Roon.
"I've just felt loved. So many people have stepped up and... I just don't know how to tell people how grateful I am. But thank you," she emphasized.
"It's going to be very sad when this comes full circle."
Planning ahead, Van Roon has offered her body to the University of British Columbia to study in the hopes it will advance research on cardiac intimal sarcoma.
"I'm donating my body so that if they need this, we are helping other people," she said, adding that donating our bodies is another way to support research on cancer.
Van Roon moved to Aldergrove in 2019 to live on her family's farm after a change in her immediate family dynamic. Her two daughters, five and 10, moved with her. She's been raising her kids on the farm while working in operations maintenance for the Township of Langley.
Daily life has become slower for Van Roon since developing symptoms, she said.
"I used to be a lot more active around the farm. On a Saturday, I would be way more hands on... It started even before I was diagnosed. In hindsight I was tired and sick."
Further surgery is no longer an option for Van Roon because she doesn't have the time to stop the chemotherapy.
"I don't have time [to rest and heal]. We're racing the clock of what's going faster, the chemo or the cancer? It's scary, it's really scary."
To support Van Roon and her daughters, a GoFundMe page has been created with a goal of $100,000. As of Friday, Sept. 27, more than $32,000 was raised.
