LONDON, ON — Just a few weeks ago, Tate Foley was a typical happy-go-lucky five-year-old boy.
Today he is at Victoria Hospital & Children's Hospital in London undergoing treatment for a cancerous tumour on his kidney.
Back in Fort Frances, community members have rallied to provide support.
"If your family's healthy, just realize that you're in the good times. Because in the blink of an eye, all this changed so fast, and what we would give to just go back to when Tait was healthy," Tate's dad, Adam, said in an interview Tuesday.
Shortly after his fifth birthday, he was taken to La Verendrye Hospital's emergency department with a lump on his belly.
What was at first suspected to be an enlarged spleen turned out to be cancer.
Tate went next to the hospital in Thunder Bay, then to London where he was diagnosed with Wilm's tumour – also known as nephroblastoma or kidney cancer – with some cancer cells also in his lungs.
The boy was scheduled to have his third of six rounds of chemotherapy on Wednesday, to be followed by surgery and more chemo after that.
"He's been battling something. He started to fever late last week and it hasn't really gone away," Foley said. "He's been having some new pains, so we had to go back to the hospital from the Ronald McDonald House to do a bunch more tests, and he just had an ultrasound and x-ray done. Now we're just kind of waiting on the results."
The family anticipates a prolonged stay away from home.
Foley said Wilm's tumour is treatable and generally curable, but the doctors aren't promising anything.
He said his son is scared, "but he's doing it. He has his ups and downs, but he's a trooper."
In the meantime, the family is being sustained by an outpouring of support from Fort Frances and elsewhere.
"It's overwhelming," Foley said. "My wife and I just couldn't really put into words how much gratitude we feel for everyone. It's been a lot of people that we've met throughout our lives that have come and supported us. It's been pretty amazing."
He said the family is also thankful for the medical care Tate's received throughout this crisis.
"It's been really fast. We went in not knowing this as going to happen, but yes, Fort Frances urged us to go to Thunder Bay, and then Thunder Bay was quick to act, saw something, and got us to London ASAP. It's been great here."
A GoFundMe drive organized by close friends brought a rapid response, with over 500 donations totalling over $80,000 to help cover the family's costs and missed time at work.
"It's pretty easy to feel alone here. So, regardless of the GoFundMe, even support like messages and stuff has been amazing," Foley said. "We feel lots of love back home."
