Yellowknife residents are raising thousands of dollars for a city musician and teacher diagnosed with stage four cancer.
A GoFundMe page states Eugene Roach was recently told he has a form of lung cancer named adenocarcinoma. The cancer is said to have spread to his liver, spine, and some lymph nodes.
The online fundraiser, created by Yellowknife resident LeeAnna Carson, raised more than $6,000 of its initial $10,000 goal within six hours of being published.
The GoFundMe page states Eugene will begin chemotherapy soon “and perhaps radiation in the future.”
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It adds: “Those who know Eugene know him to be a kind man, dedicated father to Courtney, a talented musician and a devoted educator, tournament organizer and coach to a lot of our children.
“Eugene is taking this news in typical Eugene style. He is taking a strong and positive attitude and will move through this with an expected joke here and there.”
More: GoFundMe page for Eugene Roach
The page attributes the following comments to Eugene himself: “Maybe the best analogy I can give you is that I’m the goalie in net, focused on the puck and trying to figure out where the next shot is coming from, and if there’s any chance of deflections, while everyone in the stands are on the edge of their seats going crazy because it’s out of their hands.
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“I will win this damn game! Might not be a shutout, but I will win this game, don’t you worry.”
Carson said Eugene and Cynthia Roach were ‘hesitant’ about an online fundraiser being started in their name, but “they were able to accept that there are lots of people who love them and want to be able to help in some way.”
As of 10:30pm on Saturday, 57 separate donations had been made using the GoFundMe page.
Eugene, a singer-songwriter, released an album earlier this year which he debuted at a Yellowknife launch party in June.
