There's been another heartbreaking setback for Matthew Schreindorfer, the Laval man who's been battling an especially aggressive form of leukemia for the last two years.
Schreindorfer's cancer has returned for a third time, after costly treatments appeared to have worked in the past.
Now, Schreindofer's wife, Katia Luciani, has launched a new crowdfunding effort, which she calls her "very last" option to save his life.
Schreindorfer's fight began in August 2014, shortly after he married Katia and shortly after they returned from their honeymoon. He was diagnosed with what's called acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and has gone through several treatments in both Canada and the U.S., which appeared to have worked initially, but which failed to bring him into a sustained remission.
"Normally it's a cancer that's seen a little bit more in children, but as a young adult, it's a little bit more in children, so as a young adult, it's tougher to treat," Luciani told CJAD's Ken Connors.
But what she and Matthew didn't know, apparently, until last month, is that Matthew has a genetic mutation which causes his cancer to reappear constantly.
"Fortunately there's a medication that he can take to target that mutation, to stop that from happening, but unfortunately he needs to get into remission before he can start that medication," she says.
In a Facebook post, Luciani wrote that in order to save Matthew, he would have to be admitted to an improved CART-19 clinical trial — a treatment similar to ones he received in New York and in Bethesda, Md. He would have to travel to Seattle for the treatment, which costs anywhere from $650,000 to $700,000, and isn't covered by a medicare or insurance plan.
Luciani has launched a new crowdfunding page which has so far raised more than $53,000 in the past 24 hours.