An Edmonton couple, with a young child, is finding support in the hospitality industry after being handed a life-changing cancer diagnosis in mid-October.
Jared Carmichael had been dealing with severe back pain when his wife urged he visit the emergency department.
“He just thought it was muscle pain. Very uncomfortable and then it slowly started progressing,” said Allison Carmichael.
“He didn’t want to go to hospital at the beginning and I’m like, ‘That’s not normal. Not being able to sit down, walk, drive — that’s not normal.'”
On Oct. 7, he was admitted to the Grey Nuns Community Hospital for severe back pain. He ended up collapsing on the floor after providing a blood sample.
“I’m carrying my seven-month-old baby and I see my husband on the ground, crying for help.
“To see someone on the ground like that, it’s just horrible.”
An MRI showed Jared had a tumour on his spine. The couple learned on Oct. 19 that it was diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.
“When they told us it was stage-four cancer, we were just like ‘Oh no.’ Our lives drastically changed,” she said. “When you find out, it’s a huge impact. It’s a huge life-changing game.”
Jared and Allison were married in 2015, and their baby girl named Harper was born in March 2017.
Jared is at the Cross Cancer Institute undergoing five or six sessions of chemotherapy. So far, he’s completed two sessions. He’s partially paralyzed from the chest down and doctors have told the couple that he will be at the Cross Cancer Institute for six months to a year.
“At first, he couldn’t move anything at all. He could just move his arms and his face,” Allison said.
“Now he moves slightly his right leg, which is a really good sign.”
“There’s a lot of complications that come with not being able to move your body. We just found a blood clot in his lung.”
Both Jared and Allison have worked for a number of hotels, most recently the Matrix Hotel in downtown Edmonton. Now the hospitality industry is showing support through an online auction.
“No one saw it coming and I think the fact Allison is on maternity leave and they have a seven-month-old baby and Jared in the prime of his life,” Olaf Miede, general manager of the Matrix Hotel, said.
“It just touched so many people seeing their story.”
As of Saturday afternoon, a GoFundMe campaign had raised more than $15,000.
“We’re just really happy that we have a lot of friends, family, co-workers that helped us,” Allison said.
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