B.C. man with terminal cancer paying out of pocket for treatment to extend his life

A Vancouver man living with terminal cancer is now paying out of pocket for a drug he hopes will extend his life.

“I’ve been told I have a couple of weeks, maybe months, and we are hoping to maybe extend this a little bit more,” 43-year-old Ronny  Borkowski told Global News.

Borkowski was diagnosed with leukemia a year ago. The diagnosis came as a shock — he’d initially suspected he had COVID-19.

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He underwent two aggressive rounds of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant.

But doctors told him cancer cells were still present and were progressing, meaning there was no longer hope he’d go into remission.

“There’s no cure anymore, I cannot be cured at this point,” he said. “There’s only a way to live with it.”

One of the ways to live with it is a drug that could potentially give him more time — but it comes with an $8,000 price tag per month.

Despite his doctors’ willingness to try the drug, the provincial system that funds drugs disagreed, and refused his application.

“What I’ve been told is I’m simply too young,” Borkowski said.

Health Minister Adrian Dix told Global News he sympathized with Borkowski’s case, but that it is not the minister’s place to overrule a decision by medical staff.

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“Obviously this case,  as you’ve described it, is a really significant and difficult case, for the family and the person involved. That’s why it’s so important that when we make decisions like this, that we make those decisions based on the best medical advice,” Dix said.

Desperate, Borkowski maxed out his credit card to pay for his first month of treatment, and has launched a fundraising campaign that’s brought in enough to cover seven more.

One thing is clear: Borkowski plans to fight to live until the very end.

“I cannot accept that this is over soon,” he said.  “We are really planning on moving on and staying in there for as long as possible.”