A Nova Scotia man with terminal cancer is headed back home thanks to online crowdfunding efforts.
Cameron Conrad, 57, is scheduled to arrive in the province around 4 p.m. on Thursday when his flight lands at Halifax Stanfield International Airport.
“They have only given him months to live,” wrote his sister Juanita Martin on the GoFundMe page she set up on Jan. 16.
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Conrad became ill in November while working in Grand Prairie, Alta. Doctors determined he has lung cancer, Martin told Global News in a phone interview.
She said because he can’t sit up for hours at a time, an air ambulance would be the most appropriate way to transport him. However, due to the high cost of arranging it, she turned to a crowdfunding website.
Someone at Advanced Paramedic Ltd., an air ambulance organization, reached out to the family after hearing about the story.
“Basically what we told the family is, ‘If you meet your goal, that’s great. If you don’t meet your goal and you only, say, get $20,000 or $30,000, that’s OK, too,'” company CEO Stephen Woodburn said in a Skype interview from Peace River, Alta. “Somebody had to step up, in my opinion, to say, ‘You know what, let’s just get going.'”
As of Thursday, more than $52,000 had been raised, exceeding the original goal of $47,000.