As he attends a calendar-full of appointments, stretched over days, weeks and months of uncertainty, Carnarvon’s Curtis Barker does not have much control over what is happening to his body. He is dealing with a rare bile duct cancer, related complications, and liver disease.
But on this day, the sun is shining. He puts out the patio furniture. It’s exhausting but preferable to sitting around doing nothing.
Curtis said he stays sane by keeping as active as his body allows.
You may know Curtis; and you may have seen, or even contributed to, the April GoFundMe campaign for he and wife, Megan, and their two young children. They have raised just shy of $120,000 of an original $100,000 goal.
The main objective was to fund 10 cycles of a drug called Enhertu, a targeted cancer treatment for Curtis not covered by OHIP or private insurance. Each cycle costs $10,000
The family’s life changed in September 2024 with the stage four Cholangiocarcinoma (bile duct cancer) diagnosis. Curtis stopped working. He underwent a Whipple surgery, and while Megan’s private insurance covers the essential daily medications required afterward, the road since then has been incredibly difficult.
Curtis has endured first-line chemotherapy and immunotherapy, followed by secondline chemotherapy, and radiation. Along the way, he has faced multiple hospitalizations, including pneumonia, a blood infection, influenza A, and colitis. The disease has progressed, spreading to his liver, lymph nodes, and spine. He is undergoing radiation for pain management, as even strong medications are no longer enough.
At Princess Margaret Hospital, testing revealed that Curtis’s tumor is HER2 3+ positive — opening the door to a promising drug called Enhertu.
He got his first dose April 20 at Peterborough Regional Health Centre, delivered through a port in his chest. He’ll get the drug every three weeks. Money raised through the GoFundMe is paying for at least 10 treatments.
Curtis says he’s had every side effect you can get from the drug – such as nausea, fatigue, and hair loss – but the two are hopeful as they’ve read Enhertu can be successful.
He and Megan cannot believe how much the community contributed to the campaign.
Curtis isn’t much of a talker. He is at a loss for words when it comes to expressing his feelings about family, friends, acquaintances and complete strangers donating to the cause. “I have no words really. It’s crazy all this money came in.”
Megan is more expressive. “Curtis is a guy who’s made a ton of connections.” He is from the Barker family (of Barker Heating and Cooling).
After three or four treatments, they’ll do more scans to see what impact the drug is having. Until then, it’s the waiting game, which isn’t easy for Curtis, who used to work 10 hours a day as a tradesman.
He said looking after his health “is pretty much a job” now. His other work is keeping busy.
“I just try to find stuff to do. You feel like you don’t want to do anything, but you need to.” The other day, when the walls were closing in, and he was feeling up to it, he took a drive to Minden. He has a lot of friends, who pop over to take his mind off things. It helps that Megan works from home. He has his daughters. Megan said the older one is aware dad is sick, but the other still too young.
Besides thanking the community for their generosity, Curtis also encouraged people to see their doctor if they think there is something going on. The couple had nothing but praise for their team of medical practitioners.
Only about 400 people are diagnosed with his type of cancer every year in Canada. Curtis asks, “how does this even happen? Why am I blessed? Why am I the guy? How come I can win this, but not the lottery?”
For now, plans are short-term. It’s living day-to-day. Walking outside, Curtis shows some fruit trees he has planted around the property. There is new growth; a sign of spring and renewal.
