Vaughan, ON

Vaughan, ON
Dear Friends,
My name is Roger Foley. I live with a rare, progressive neurological disease called Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 14 (SCA14) along with other severe disabilities. I’m currently a patient ‘trapped’ inside London Victoria hospital in Ontario because the self-directed home care I need has been cruelly withheld by public health authorities.
Hospital staff have repeatedly offered and pressured me to consider Canada’s infamous assisted suicide program Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) while simultaneously obstructing the very services and supports I need to live safely. Despite my condition, I have fought tirelessly for my rights, dignity, and the ability to return to the community.
On May 7, 2025, the hospital removed the specialized lighting accommodations that I had relied on for years. These accommodations were medically necessary due to my severe neurological photosensitivity and visual disability. To safely swallow liquids or pureed foods, I must be lifted with a mechanical sling and seated in a solid chair, where I can achieve more than a 90-degree forward neck bend to perform an effortful swallow technique with a chin tuck. This is essential to prevent choking, aspiration, and pneumonia. Without the lighting accommodations, I cannot safely eat, take oral medications, or even drink water. The hospital’s fluorescent and halogen lighting emits high-intensity blue wavelengths that cause intense eye pain and injury. My eyes require non-direct, low-intensity amber-wavelength lighting—the exact conditions provided by the longstanding accommodations that were removed.
Since then, I have also been starved of basic care: placed on IV fluids, subjected to ongoing dehydration and malnutrition, repeatedly berated and harassed by staff, violently woken under the guise of so-called “checks,” and assaulted with other abusive tactics.
After months of research beginning in late July, I now rely on taped-together makeshift ski goggles—stacking three separate visors to approximate the <1% VLT amber filtration I medically require but which does not exist commercially. Because of my malformed cervical spine, however, I can only tolerate these heavy goggles for about 10 minutes at a time, which allows only minimal hydration but not food or medication. Despite all efforts, I remain dehydrated and in increasing neck pain from being forced to use makeshift goggles just to access partial fluids.
The hospital refuses to restore my accommodations or provide even the most basic humanitarian needs: food, water, oral meds, and toileting. This is why I’m asking for your gracious assistance.
Without proper lighting accommodations and support:
I never consented to this treatment. It is a form of cruel punishment and discrimination that has destroyed my health and quality of life.
But, an independent non-profit organization, Life Care Network Inc., has stepped forward to help me. They are prepared to send Personal Support Workers (PSWs) directly into the hospital to provide me with the essentials the hospital refuses to:
Life Care Network has already assessed the specialized lighting set-up in my room and confirmed it is safe for staff, visitors, and care providers. This means that independent PSWs can safely provide the care I urgently need without harm to anyone.
To make this possible, in addition to Life Care’s limited funding, I require additional financial support to cover the costs of bringing PSWs into the hospital on a consistent basis. Without this, I remain completely dependent on a hospital that refuses to meet even my most basic needs and continues to actively try to end my life.
100% of your donation will directly fund safe and independent care, ensuring I have access to food, water, and dignity while I continue my fight for justice.
So I ask you to please consider donating whatever you can – 100% of every contribution goes directly to supporting my care through Life Care Network.
My life and survival depend on this care. Please help me access the essentials that everyone deserves – food, water, medications, and personal safety.
Thank you sincerely for your consideration to make a personal difference by supporting and standing for life in a very compassionate and practical way.
Roger Foley
p.s. For your prayerful consideration: “Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ” Matthew 25:44-45
p.p.s. Sadly, I had tried to previously fundraise on LifeFunder, but the credit card processor refunded all donations because I was unable to provide a valid ID from my hospital bed. Life Care Network has now stepped-in and is humbled to host this fundraiser and collect the funds on my behalf.
Thank you sincerely for your consideration to support me, God bless – Roger