A 29-year-old Saskatoon woman, who recently became a mother, has learned that she has just six months to live. Rather than making the last months of her life tragic, though, she's checking off her bucket list goals, one day at a time.
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Colleen Burris learned she had a form of cancer called uterine sarcoma three days after marrying her husband Laurie in August, 2012. After a year of treatment, the cancer went into remission and she and Laurie adopted their baby girl, Aubrie, now three years old.
But in the back of their minds, they always knew there was potential for the cancer to return. On March 1, Colleen's doctors delivered devastating news. The cancer was back and was terminal. She had roughly six months to live.
Her doctors told her she could undergo chemotherapy again to beat the cancer back a little, but Burris said no.
"(There’s) a 30 per cent chance that it would even extend my life, for a few months, and only a few months. And for me, going through (chemo) and being sick now versus sick later, it wasn't an option. I'd rather be sick later and have this time to just do what I want,” she says.
Colleen’s sister, Caitlin Maberg, decided to jump in and help. Knowing her sister had so much she wanted to do in so little time, Caitlin started a GoFundMe page three weeks ago to help her sister check off her bucket list goals.
Within a day and a half, it reached its goal of $30,000 and currently sits at more than $42,000.
Surprised and thankful, Colleen has wasted no time. She took a self-defence class with her sister, went dog sledding in Canmore, Alta., and enjoyed a big trip to Mexico with her whole family.
Colleen still wants to see Las Vegas and Los Angeles, as well as to visit relatives in Nova Scotia.
She and Laurie are trying to take plenty of videos with Colleen and her daughter to make sure Aubrie will have plenty of memories of her mom.
Colleen says her faith gives her strength to believe there is a purpose and a plan for her. She tries to simply look forward to happy moment, but admits it’s not always easy.
"I still have days where it hits hard. But you have to work past that and you have to try to make the best of the time you do have. I don't want to be sad for the rest of my time. I want to be happy."
With a report from CTV Saskatoon’s Julie Clark
