A Nova Scotia man is hoping to return home to spend his final days after he was hospitalized in Calgary with terminal cancer late last year.
Cameron Conrad was working in Grande Prairie and has travelled back and forth to work out west a few times over the years.
Late last year he became ill and the pain was so bad that he went to the emergency department where he was eventually diagnosed with lung cancer.
“They thought he had shingles, then the pain got so back that he actually admitted himself one Friday evening in November to the hospital in Grande Prairie actually, and that’s when he was diagnosed with lung cancer and it had spread into his bones,” said his sister, Juanita Martin.
Conrad is now in Foothills Hospital in Calgary and family and friends are trying to return him to Lawrencetown Beach so he can live out the rest of his days.
“He looked me in the eyes and he said Lis, ‘I just want to come home and die’ and I said we are going to do whatever we can to make that happen,” said Conrad’s niece, Lisa Rehberg.
Getting him there is a challenge so family and friends have set up a GoFundMe page to raise the money.
“If he could sit on a regular aircraft we could hire a nurse and bring him home, but he can’t, he can’t get out of bed at this point, he has to lay flat so we have to have mediflight to bring him home. It’s going to cost $47,000, thereabouts, so it’s not as easy as it seems, emotionally or financially,” said Martin.
“The support is amazing, amazing, but it shows you what kind of guy he is right?” said Rehberg.
On Monday afternoon, the GoFundMe account reached its goal of $47,000 and was just over the $48,000 mark.
Click HERE for more information or to make a donation.
(With files from CTV Atlantic's Marie Adsett)
