“We were optimistic, everything looked good,” said Amberley.

Phil had to wear a face mask for 100 days following the procedure and travelled back and forth between their St. Catharines home and Juravinksi Cancer Centre for twice weekly check ups and blood work. Earlier this month, on the 77th day, when he returned for one of those routine check ups, he received the bad news. The leukemia had returned, and it was aggressive.

“We had been there on Friday and everything was OK, there was no reason for concern or any follow up,” she said. “But from Friday to Wednesday, everything had activated. That’s how aggressive it spreads.”

Phil’s been hospitalized since that check up on June 1, and Amberley splits her time between Hamilton and St. Catharines, trying to spend as much time as possible with both Phil and her young daughter. Her mother, Kim, has been helping with Ellie.

“We’ve had such a great support system,” Amberley said.

At the end of May, the weekend before the return of Phil’s leukemia, more than 70 friends and family members ran in the Rankin Run in support of Phil. A fundraiser was held later in the evening to support the family as well.

With Phil in the hospital and Amberley on maternity leave, money has been tight for them. Things are about to get a lot tighter, too.

Having exhausted all options in Canada, the family is now looking to a new treatment, CAR T-Cell Therapy, offered in the United States that has shown to have good success rates for people in similar conditions as Phil, living in remission five and 10 years later. There is a trial being offered at the Fred Hutch Seattle Cancer Care Alliance in Seattle and they are assessing his suitability. The cost of the treatment is covered, but Amberley and Phil will be on the hook for paying for the administration of the treatment — $630,000 in Canadian funds. And they have to pay for it up front, before he can begin the trial.

“It’s an insane amount of money, I know,” she said. “When they told me the amount on the phone, my heart stopped. I was like ‘where am I going to come up with that kind of cash?’ I just don’t know.”

A GoFundMe campaign had been set up two months ago by a friend of Amberley as a way for other friends and family members to offer support to the family during the difficult time. Amberley has converted its goal to match the amount needed for the treatment.

“I know Phil will not mean the same to you as he does to me and my daughter, but we are facing the pain of losing the person who means the most to us in the world,” she wrote on the page’s description.

The procedure will see his cells harvested and genetically modified before they’re put back in his system. OHIP won’t cover the system and Amberley said they’re not able to attain international health care coverage.

“We’re looking for a miracle but we have to try,” she said. With his leukemia aggressively spreading, she said it’s up in the air whether he will live long enough to get to the clinical trial. “Basically, we’re playing a game of Russian roulette.”

The trial is tentatively scheduled to start on July 17. As of Monday afternoon, the Secords had raised $12,916 through their GoFundMe page.