MONCTON -- A Winnipeg couple with Maritime roots is facing the battle of a lifetime, as they fight the same rare form of cancer.
Luke Belding was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in January 2018, at the age of 26.
“The cancer was creating too much marrow and it was actually expanding the bones,” says Luke.
Originally from Sussex, N.B., Luke was attending university in Winnipeg when he received the diagnosis.
Luke’s girlfriend was going to school in Maine at the time and made the decision to move to Winnipeg. The couple got married while he was in hospital.
“When he was first diagnosed, and I was completely alone and had no one to talk to about it,” says Lindsey Belding, Luke’s wife.
Lindsey began to document their journey in a blog called “Life, Love and Leukemia.”
“It was a great therapeutic release for me just to get it all out there,” says Lindsey.
After a stem-cell transplant, Luke relapsed in 2019. He underwent a second transplant and then the couple received another devastating blow -- Lindsey was admitted to hospital and diagnosed with the same type of blood cancer.
“Physically, it's going to make us a lot weaker for the foreseeable future, but mentally and emotionally it's definitely bringing us together,” says Luke.
To make matters worse, Luke is unable to visit Lindsey in hospital due to restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
“When he was about to get out of the hospital, she got her diagnosis and it was just, you know, unbelievable. The whole world kind of fell beneath us,” says Ben Belding, Luke’s brother.
Ben started a GoFundMe campaign to help the couple cover their bills as they both continue to receive treatment. So far, the campaign has raised nearly $40,000.
“Both of them are so strong and to be able to do this and have a smile on their face and have love persist throughout, it's just, aww man, it’s incredible,” says Ben Belding.
