SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — A Summerside family is “shaken to the core”.
Matthew and Victoria Sara Kingyen grew concerned when their three-year-old son, Camden, woke to severe headaches and one morning with vomiting over a nine-day span in December.
“On Dec. 10, I decided to take Camden to see his family doctor, but her appointments were full for the day, so I took him to the emergency department in Summerside’s Prince County Hospital around 9 a.m.,” said Victoria.
After an examination at the Prince County Hospital, it was decided Camden should have a CT Scan to – hopefully – rule out anything major.
But doctors had devasting news for the couple.
"Everyday we hope we’ll wake up from this awful nightmare."
- Victoria Sara Kingyens
“We were told there was a mass cancerous tumour (medulloblastoma) in his brain. A neurosurgeon at the IWK Health Centre in Halifax was notified and reviewed Camden’s scan. They requested us to be at IWK as soon as possible, and we were transported by ambulance, arriving that evening at 6 p.m.,” she said.
Camden had a 90-minute MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scan at the IWK that revealed smaller tumours surrounding the large mass, including tumours all the way down his spine.
Brain surgery was required, followed by chemotherapy.
“His case is advanced and will require an aggressive treatment plan. We were all absolutely shocked at the news after the CT scan and then again after the MRI. Our life changed in an instant and now we are helping our beautiful baby boy fight for his life," said Victoria.
“Every day we hope we’ll wake up from this awful nightmare."
Her husband, Matt, owner of Advanced Builders Inc. in Summerside, will be travelling back and forth between P.E.I. and Halifax, and then to Toronto, while she stays with Camden at the hospitals, said Victoria, who added Camden’s older brother has been coping “well so far” with the separation.
He will require nine weeks of chemotherapy treatment at the IWK, which began on Jan. 3.
“Camden is taking all procedures like a champion and he is our hero and an inspiration,” said his mom.
“Camden is taking all procedures like a champion and he is our hero and an inspiration.”
- Victoria Sara Kingyens
After the treatment, if his body is responding, mother and son will travel to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto for an extra nine weeks of what they call "big chemotherapy".
During his first treatments at the IWK, Victoria and Camden will also make two short trips to Toronto for stem cell harvesting. Stem cells will be harvested and used to help his body through chemotherapy as the doses increase.
“Before Camden started chemotherapy, he had four surgeries over Christmas,” said Victoria, who gave up work to take care of her son full-time.
Aaron Dawson, owner of Hustle Athletic Training Inc. in Summerside, is hosting a fundraiser called "Push-ups for Cam" to help support the family.
“When I was at my former location, I was a personal trainer for Matt Kingyen. His company, called Advanced Builders Inc., did all the renovations of this gym and made Hustle what it is today. Victoria is also my bookkeeper here,” said Dawson of his connection to the family.
“I learned about their son a couple of weeks ago, and things have happened fairly quickly since then. It was a shock. I have three small kids of my own, they play with the Kingyen children, so it breaks your heart. I wanted to help the family in some way,” he said.
Dawson is looking for pledges per push-up, which will take place at Hustle Athletic Training located at 465 Water St. in Summerside on Jan. 18 at 3 p.m.
“You can pledge $1 per push-up, so if I end up doing 200 push-ups in the hour, you owe $200. It’s totally up to you how much you pledge – it could even be one cent,” he said.
Hustle Athletic Training Inc. will collect pledge donations after the event, which will be open to the public and filmed live on the gym’s Facebook page.
TTo learn more visit, Facebook.com/HustleAthleticPEI or call Dawson at 902-315-1950.
