Jay Piggot thought he had taken his life back just under a year ago.
The North Shore Rescue volunteer and ambulance paramedic was back to what he loved best, saving people’s lives and being a family man once again after he was given a clean bill of health following a battle with an aggressive form of liver cancer.
WATCH: North Shore rescuer now cancer-free
“It was like all my dreams were coming true,” he told Global News.
But a recent visit to the doctor brought those dreams to a screeching halt.
“I went to the doctor to get checked out and they found it again,” Piggot said.
“And this time, they said it had really spread.”
Piggot has hepatocellular carcinoma, a liver cancer that has required him to seek treatment in Seattle on Nov. 15.
The cost of the treatment? US$55,000 (more than C$68,000).
The first time Piggot fought cancer, the search and rescue community rallied to his side, starting a fundraising page called “Help Rescue the Rescuer” that managed to raise more than $100,000.
READ MORE: North Shore rescuer, now cancer-free, eager to return to work
That money helped to pay for a precedent-setting surgery that helped remove the cancer.
Now, there’s another fundraising campaign, this time seeking $70,000.
“I’m a helper, so for me to have to reach out again and ask is difficult,” Piggot said.
For Piggot’s wife Denise Findlay, it’s been tough to watch the man she loves lose weight and “deteriorate” in front of her eyes.
But both of them have been touched to see how much people have wanted to help him.
“I said to him at one point, what are you crying about, why are you crying,” Findlay told Global News.
“He said, I’m not crying because I’m sad, I’m crying because I know how kind people can be.”
It’s a tough fight ahead for Piggot, a rescuer whose colleagues say he has the “beast mode” quality about him — the very same quality that he harnesses to assist an injured hiker on a forested mountain, or to pick someone up before the cold night sets in.
“There’s still more that has to be done and that’s what I’m fighting for now,” Piggot said.
Anyone who wishes to donate can do so at this FundRazr page. They can also donate to “Jay Piggot in trust” at any BlueShore Financial location.