Brokers Who Care voted and we are pleased to announce that we will be sending a cheque in the amount of $10,000 to Lucas Martin, our Eastern Recipient of the 3rd Quarter 2023 vote.

Thank you to Rocco Mongelli for bringing this Cause to our attention.

The Nomination Story:

The day our world was flipped upside down was March 1 2023 our 9 year old baby boy Lucas was diagnosed with leukaemia (ALL). In the months leading up to that day we had many hospital visits trying to figure out what was going on with our son as he was losing weight, looking pale and just wasn’t himself. After many blood tests and visits with specialists we were told he had a virus that had attacked his immune system and that it would run its course, until one day his feet were hurting so bad that another hospital visit had finally revealed Lucas has leukaemia.
From that day forward our lives will never be the same, we spent the first 2 weeks at Sick Kids Hospital and Lucas had a port inserted on the right side of his chest where he received needles for bloodwork and chemo. We were told he wouldn’t be able to attend school to finish grade 3 or play the game that he loves, ice hockey. Lucas’s passion in life is hockey he plays rep hockey and was team captain for his Caledon AA team and to have that taken away from him was devastating.

Lucas’ diagnosis requires him to receive chemotherapy on a weekly basis along with multiple blood tests and transfusions. Treatment is scheduled to to end in 2026 and as you can imagine this has put stress on our family mentally, emotionally and financially. My wife Valerie was able to continue working from home while caring for Lucas and our oldest son Matthew while I was able to continue managing my small construction business but after months of continuous hospital visits for treatments it had taken its toll.
To add more to the mix, with her daily focus and mind being always on our little one, Valerie was diagnosed with anxiety and mild depression and decided it was best to take a leave from work to focus on caring for Lucas and applied for short term disability leave only to be denied based on her lack of medical history to support her claim. So we made Lucas the priority like any parent would, however, being a one income family in todays world is not an ideal situation.

Lucas is a warrior and continues to fight this disease with everything he’s got. He will have to endure 3 years of treatment (chemotherapy)and countless blood tests, transfusions and lumbar punctures. The concern for infection from a compromised immune system is always a threat to his health and as such we have to be weary of visitors to our home. A simple fever can mean 24 to 48 hour hospitalization with antibiotic treatment.

Lucas has good days and mostly bad days as chemotherapy leaves him feeling ill and depleted and spends most days after treatment lying in his bed. The morning Lucas lost his hair was a traumatic experience for him even though we talked about it happening he wasn’t fully aware or prepared for the clumps of hair left behind on his pillow.

We have come to realize that taking this journey with Lucas is impossible without the help of faith, family, friends and community. We are truly grateful for any help that we receive.