Vancouver Canucks fan Dave Noordam needs our help in his battle with cancer

UPDATE: Huge thank you to the Canucks for retweeting the link to this story on their Twitter account. If that’s who sent you, you can donate to Dave’s GoFundMe here.

Dave Noordam is a 40-year-old Vancouver Canucks fan who has been dealt an incredibly tough hand in the past year.

In December of 2019, he noticed a canker sore in his mouth that just wouldn’t go away. After getting it checked out, he was told it was squamous cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer.

He had surgery to get it removed, and in March, he was told he was cancer-free.

Then he welcomed his second son Jeremiah into the world in late June.

Just two weeks after Jeremiah was born, Dave found a lump on his neck while shaving.

Normally, that wouldn’t bother me, but I thought, you know, having had cancer once this year, I might as well get it checked,” said Noordam. “That’s when they told me it had returned, this time in my lymph nodes.”

Dave had surgery for that on August 19th, which resulted in 25 staples and a total of 78 lymph nodes removed.

“There’s still some cancer there, and they also found that it has spread to the left side of my neck a little bit. My chemo for that actually starts on Tuesday, which I mean, is good, but it also sucks and I’m not looking forward to it at all. I am thankful though because they did say if it had spread below my clavicle, it would be considered terminal. So I am very fortunate that that didn’t happen. But if it comes back again, at any point, in my future, it will be considered terminal and give me about a year to live,” Noordam says before pausing.

“That’s hard to hear, especially when you’ve got such young kids and stuff like that.”

His wife Jenelle is who Dave says his battle is probably toughest on.

“It’s a daily fight, obviously, and sometimes I think it’s actually harder on my wife, cause, you know, she’s the one that would be left without me if something happens. You know, the two young kids so I mean, it’s hard on her. Really tough on her.”

Dave and Jenelle’s oldest son Jesse turns three years old this weekend, and the cost of Dave’s medication isn’t making things any easier.

“It just sucks when you’re a regular person, you’re not loaded, and you have bills to pay and you’re constantly getting stuck with expensive medications and time off work and all that stuff.”

The GoFundMe had been open for a while, but Dave hadn’t promoted it or asked anybody for help until he realized yesterday that the bills awaiting him and the time he would miss from work could have huge ramifications on his family.

The goal set on Dave’s GoFundMe is at $50,000 and at the time of this writing, sits at $4,413.

“That amount would afford me to not worry about missing work and being able to just focus on my energy and my strength and recovery because that is absolutely critical at this point. My doctors, they’re telling me, ‘do not get overworked, overstressed, because you’re going to need every ounce of energy and strength you have'”

Dave is a fighter and he is a breath of fresh air to interact with, which anybody who has interacted with him on Twitter can attest to. He’s stubborn — which he attributes to his Dutch heritage — but always looks on the bright side and remains positive whenever possible.

Dave needs every bit of help he can get, and if you are able to donate, you can do so here.