A 23-year-old Airdrie mother of two continuing to struggle with her fight against cancer is turning to a drug trial in the United States that could potentially save her life, but could cost close to $1 million.
Friends, family, and the community have rallied around the Kajdy family since last year, raising money and supporting them in any way possible.
“The diagnosis isn't even the hardest part, like going through all the treatment and stuff is not difficult, for me it's just seeing the toll that this is taking on my family and the people that I love,” said Brooke Kajdy. “It's just awful.”
While they’re currently in a waiting game to be accepted into a trial south of the border, she remains hopeful about the future and watching her children grow up.
Kajdy was diagnosed with Stage 4 B-cell Lymphoma while pregnant at 20 weeks with her second child, a son, in June 2023.
“Looking back now, obviously I did not enjoy the pregnancy,” she said. “I didn't get to do all of the fun, cute pregnancy things that most people get to do. It was very much just like surviving at that point, and making sure that my son was OK.”
This diagnosis came months after her first symptoms were dismissed as pregnancy related. Earlier in the year, she suffered from pain in her knees and swollen gums. She was referred to many other specialists but nothing seemed to improve her health.
While at the Foothills Hospital in Calgary for an antibiotic infusion, a doctor noticed something was off, admitted her, and ordered blood work. That blood work showed a low white blood cell count and after a hip biopsy, they confirmed she had Lymphoma. Lymphoma is a broad term for blood cancers that affects the lymphatic system
“Unfortunately because it is a blood cancer, it's very difficult to treat because it's everywhere,” Kajdy said. “It's not just one part that they can kind of surgically remove or something like that.”
Facing tough decisions, she carried on with her pregnancy while undergoing treatment and finally delivered her baby boy at 32 weeks.
Since then, her life has consisted of a series of treatments including chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radiation, and so on. While some treatments improved things, nothing got rid of the cancer altogether.
“It's been hard,” Kajdy said. “It has been a very difficult year for us.”
Fortunately, when she was first diagnosed a GoFundMe page allowed her husband to take time off work to take care of their children while she underwent treatment.
Despite all the help from family near and far, her fight against lymphoma has often taken one step forward and two steps backwards. After sharing good news, often came news that treatment hadn’t worked as well as they’d hoped. Breaking her loved ones' hearts has been the worst part for Kajdy, she said.
Unfortunately, she has run out of treatment options in Canada, but her oncologist connected her to trials in the United States. Due to the treatment being a trial, the Kajdy family has to fund it on their own.
Once the trial gets underway, Kajdy would be spending a significant amount of time in the United States. The treatment is similar to the immunotherapy CAR T-cell therapy she received in November 2023, which killed about 95 per cent of the cancer, but would attach to a different protein. The second treatment option is using a donor's stem cells to kill Kajdy's cancer cells.
With so much uncertainty ahead of her at the moment, Kajdy feels conflicted and nervous.
“I'm feeling physically very good, so it's really hard to wrap your head around the fact that you're not really doing good,” she said. “I'm feeling very nervous. I'm on edge about being away from my kids for super long.”
Her kids are young enough that they don’t understand exactly what’s going on, but due to her long absences during treatment, Kajdy has watched her daughter become more anxious and attached to those she trusts.
The rest of her family is focused on raising funds, as it’s the one thing they’re able to do to help at the moment. Kajdy said it’s a lot of money to come up with, without any guarantee that it’s going to work, but she remains positive.
The Kajdy family has lived in Airdrie for three years and her husband’s family lives nearby. Her own family lives in New Zealand, which makes it that much harder.
“They are not physically here to support me and I'm not physically there for them to kind of, you know, wrap themselves around me kind of thing,” she said.
Kajdy said she feels lucky and grateful to have many amazing people in their corner who have helped support and raise funds for them. To help out, check out the Life Saving Treatment - Brooke Kajdy GoFundMe page online.