New house program to give love and community while undergoing cancer treatment
Carey (pictured) said the house has helped her find purpose as she continues to give back to the community (Lauryn Mackenzie/ CHLY 101.7fm)
On January 1st, 2025, Carly Carey, got the news no one ever wants to hear, she had been diagnosed with cancer.
The Nanaimo local was on a trip with her husband and daughter in Japan when a medical emergency led to her undergoing emergency surgery. When she woke up from the surgery, a doctor gave her a cancer diagnosis via Google Translate on her birthday.
She was diagnosed with stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma, a rare and aggressive cancer that is fatal.
As she and her family searched for hope for what could come next back home in Nanaimo, Carey got into a very promising clinical trial.
“The average lifespan from my kind of cancer is five to seven years, so the clinical trial felt like a real moment of hope for me,” Carey said. “However, during the intake of the clinical trial, you do a bunch of testing through that week leading up and other intake processes, and it was discovered that in a rare one in several million chance I have a second cancer.”
Carey was then also diagnosed with leukaemia, disqualifying her from the clinical trial.
The family once again felt like their world was collapsing.
This was not Carey’s first or even second time being diagnosed with cancer. When she was just graduating from high school, she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and received chemotherapy at the Nanaimo Cancer Clinic but still had to travel to Victoria for other oncology appointments.
She is now once again undergoing chemotherapy at the Nanaimo Cancer Clinic.
“I'm lucky, because I live 10 minutes from the Nanaimo hospital. But there's another layer of luck there that I was even allowed to do chemo in Nanaimo, because the cancer clinic in Nanaimo is still very small,” she said. “So a lot of people, even if they live in Nanaimo, still have to go to Victoria to get chemo sometimes, because they can't accommodate everyone.”
As she is currently undergoing a two-year treatment plan with chemotherapy every three months, Carey said she feels lucky she doesn't have to take that four hour drive to Victoria to receive her treatment.
She said that while undergoing treatment, she was searching for a purpose.
“It was a pretty wild experience, but interestingly enough, I had this moment of clarity completely wash over me, and I knew immediately that I wanted to spend more time with my family and give back to my community,” she said. “That's where my husband and I created Carly's house.”
Working with her husband, Morgan, they decided to create Carly’s House. Named by her husband, to honour her legacy.
“We purchased a house, and we're donating the use of it for cancer patients to stay for free while receiving treatment in Nanaimo,” she said.
The three bedroom house will be run by the Nanaimo and District Hospital Foundation, which will handle the registration and intake of patients.
“They will decide, let's say the mom is receiving cancer treatment and she has two little children and a husband, so maybe they would just occupy the house for the time that they need. Then the next time, maybe there's two single people that need treatment. So maybe one will take one room and the other will take the other room. We'll have private bathrooms in each room.”
Throughout her time getting treatment at the clinic in Nanaimo, Carey says she has met many cancer patients who have traveled from all across the island to come to Nanaimo for treatment.
“There was someone in Port Hardy–Port Hardy– that's the most northern town, I think there is on Vancouver Island that needed chemotherapy and radiation,” Carey said. “So this person did all the chemotherapy, but then for financial reasons, they opted out of the radiation because they had to go all the way to Victoria and they didn't have accommodations.”
It was hearing these conversations that inspired her to build Carly’s House.
“So just imagine those conversations in a home where you live in Campbell River, Port Hardy, Tofino, and you have to travel all the way to Nanaimo.” she said. “It's so gruelling. So to sit across from your spouse or your mom or your dad and say, I live six hours away one way, and I need this treatment. Just imagine the hardship it is for that family.”
Currently the house is under renovation with hopes of the first family being able to move in by September.
The duo is looking for donations of services from vendors who can help with the renovations.
Carey said the house has helped her find purpose as she continues to give back to the community
“When you do something kind for someone else, whether that's volunteering with an organization, like volunteering here at this radio station, whether that's buying someone a sandwich, it is the ultimate life hack,” she said. “Nothing will bring you more joy than giving to someone else. So Carly's house has really been my mental health lifeline, and I feel honoured and grateful to be working on this project.”
Donations to Carley’s House can be made through the Nanaimo Hospital and District Foundation website.
Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.