While most young men his age are starting their careers, 21-year-old Taye Hastings from Brampton is trying to raise more than $289,000 USD for a cancer treatment that could save his life. (Photo: GoFundMe)

While most young men his age are starting their careers, 21-year-old Taye Hastings from Brampton is trying to raise more than $289,000 USD for a cancer treatment that could save his life.

“I won’t pretend I’ve been strong every day. I’ve lost 70 pounds. The side effects got so bad that holding a fork or touching a door handle was painful and impossible,” Hastings says of his months-long battle with colon cancer.

In a GoFundMe fundraiser, Hastings says he was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic colorectal cancer in June. The disease started in his colon and had already spread to his stomach, lungs, liver, kidneys, and a major lymph node.

At 21, Hastings has had to put his schooling for criminal justice and police science on hold while he undergoes treatment.

“My doctors were honest with me: without treatment, I had about three months. With it, there was hope for more time, but they weren’t optimistic it would be more than two years.

The Brampton youth has had surgery and underwent six rounds of chemotherapy, but the cancer is resistant to the treatment. Without treatment, doctors said Hastings had three months to live. But with treatment, he could have more than two years.

And while Hastings’ prognosis is far from ideal, his family is hoping they can raise over $289,000 USD in funds for a treatment in the United States that could give him more time.

The treatment alone will cost $289,000, with another $25,000 for travel and accommodation in Arizona, and between $60,000 to $80,000 for medications and follow-up care.

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The fundraiser has collected $32,966 in donations of a $550,000 goal as of Tuesday afternoon.

“I know there are no guarantees. But it’s a real chance, and I want to take it,” Hastings says of the Envita Medical Centers in Arizona, which offers personalized diagnostics and oncology care for colon cancer.

The fundraiser is being managed by Taye’s sister Maya, who says every dollar raised will go directly to the treatment and the costs that come with it.


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