Jordan Friesen is closer to receiving stem cell therapy thanks to more than $35,000 in donations to a crowdfunding page along with money raised by a five-year-old friend.
“Sometimes it brings me to tears. It just shows how loyal your friends can be and I’m just so blessed and so fortunate to have such amazing people in my life,” Friesen said.
READ MORE: Saskatoon boy sells Christmas cards to give friend the gift of sight
The Saskatoon man has a degenerative eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa, which can lead to total vision loss.
In the days before Christmas, family friend Theo Anderson, 5, sold handcrafted Christmas cards for a minimum of $10 for a bundle of four.
The proceeds went to a future out-of-country treatment Friesen hopes will improve his vision or at least prevent it from deteriorating further.
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“I just don’t want Jordan to lose his sight,” Theo told Global News last month.
The boy recently gave Friesen and his wife Michele a cheque for more than $2,100 – money raised entirely through his card sales.
Any future online donations will be put toward the treatment, though the remainder will be given to a good cause, Friesen said.
He is planning to visit China to receive stem cell injections this spring.