Sunday, April 27, 2025

Kimm Fletcher isn’t expecting a cure. The Milton mother of 2 has made her peace with that. But she is hoping for access to a drug that would give her a little more time. Time to create a few more lasting memories with her young family. And though she’s been turned down for funding by both the province and workplace insurer, her community is rallying to take up the cause. Maria Hayes has her story.

Kimm: “It felt like my body was falling off the bed. My left side was falling off the bed. And then I started getting electric shocks, through this side. I thought I was having a stroke.”

What Kimm Fletcher was really having was a partial sensory seizure. Triggered by a stage 3 brain tumour she learned about only days later. It was January 2010. Then 37-years old, Kimm needed surgery and 6-weeks of intense radiation therapy. What followed were months of MRI’s, watching the tumour shrink in size, until her Oncologist gave her the news: “It’s shrunk so much that basically I would say you’re in remission. And this is great. You’re going to dance at your daughter’s wedding.”

Heartwarming words for the mother of a 7 and 9-year old. Feeling she’d been given a second chance, Kimm set out to tackle her bucket list. She started running and training for a triatholon. She went to a casting call for a musical production in Georgetown: “I did an awful audition. But they took me anyway. I did it.”

This past summer, in the midst of living to the fullest, Kimm’s life came to a halt. The tumour had returned. A second surgery didn’t work.

Kimm: “Was told that this tumour has changed. We don’t know what happened. We’re very sorry but you are now looking at stage 4 terminal Giloblastoma Multiforme or GBM.”

Doctors have offered her one final option with oral chemo therapy: “I needed to do a drug called Avastin. That works with the chemo and it’s the only thing for GBM. The only medication that will extend my life. Because without it, I was looking at two months.”

With the drug, she could see 6 to 18 months. It’s cost is 42-hundred dollars, every two weeks. Turned down by the province and her insurance company, her family began to rally. A friend’s two daughters began making and selling loom bracelets, raising 15-hundred dollars: “Friends and family started fundraising. I didn’t even know it was happening. We had a bowling event here with silent auction that raised enough for me to get my first treatment so that was pretty special.”

Kimm knows it isn’t a cure. She’s just looking for a little more time: “I set goals. Christmas is my first. The next is my daughter’s first communion in June.”

A fundraiser is scheduled in Milton this weekend. There’s also a trust fund specifically for Kimm Fletcher’s treatment. If you’d like to make a donation, go to any Scotia Bank.
The account # is 78006 01346 27. Payable to “Kimm Fletcher in Trust”
Routing number is: 000278006.
Transit # is: 78006-002. Main Branch is at 890 Main Street East in Milton, L9T 0J4

another website is: http://www.gofundme.com/medical-illness-healing/. Look for Kimm’s section.

For Kimm’s blog and to learn more about Brain Tumor Awareness Month, go to: http://blog.braintumour.ca/stories/kimms-story-not-letting-a-brain-tumour-get-the-best-of-me/kimm-fletcher/

And finally, the fundraiser information for October 27th can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/events/554766811237863/