A letter to our Government officials: I would like to start off by asking you two questions: If you had to put a price tag on your child(ren)'s life how much would it be? Would you be able to do that? This is questions I would like you to keep in your mind while you read the following: I would like to introduce you to Connor McGrath. Connor is a 13 year old boy from Newfoundland but currently a resident of Edmonton, Alberta along with his parents, Kim (Searle) & Gerald McGrath. Connor was diagnosed on July 5th 2013, with preB cell High Risk A.L.L. After Connor feeling unwell for a few days Kim took him to the Doctor. The Doctor looked in the ears, throat, sounded his lungs and chest and assured her everything sounded and looked good. Kim told him about Connor feeling up and down since the previous Friday and he was drinking little to no water. This was a red flag to them as Connor usually drinks 2 liters or more of water a day. The Doctor decided to send them for bloodwork. Kim & Gerald thought maybe his iron was low. The morning of July 5th,2013 started out like every other morning but it quickly turned into a day that would forever change many lives. When Kim got home from work Gerald told her there was a message on the phone to call the doctor regarding bloodwork results. Kim was still thinking low iron was the problem so she refused to go to the clinic and asked the doctor  to tell her over the phone. The doctors exact words were "Mrs. McGrath there's no easy way to say this but Connor's blood work is showing blood cancer and I need you to take him into The Stollery Children's Hospital right away." Kim describes the feeling as you could have knocked Her over with a feather! Their world was rocked to the core "How in the hell did our lad have cancer? What did we do to cause it? What didn't we do to cause it? Are we going to lose him?" and so began the journey.... The journey was a bittersweet one. A road where strength is your only choice even when you felt as though you had none left. Watching a brave young man do this. He was doing it. He was beating cancer. Connor was slowly regaining life as they once knew it before devastation. Connor went into remission. Woohooooo! Life was starting to look up. On Wednesday, May 27th, 2015 that high on life feeling came crashing yet again. Connor & family were forced to face their absolute fear. Connor relapsed. What exactly does this mean? The cancer is back. Connor is again faced with another long hard road that no child should ever have to endure. Connor spent the entire summer of 2015 doing aggressive treatments to try to put him back in remission so he could have a bone marrow transplant. A bone marrow donor was found that matched. Sadly, this has failed & despite several tries of aggressive treatment to accomplish this Connor's mrds and blast cells have increased. The cancer is not responding to conventional chemotherapy. At this time Connor's medical team decided that Connor's best shot was to be transferred to the children's hospital of Philadelphia for Car T-cell Therapy. They applied for government funding to cover the expense (which is estimated to be upwards of $800,000). The government denied the funding as this treatment is still classified as experimental treatment despite the success rate. This treatment is Connor's shot at life, Connor's chance for health. $800,000 shouldn't take the option of life away from this 13 year old. In 2013, Canada was home to 35.16 MILLION people. In 2010, 255 THOUSAND of those tax paying people made above $200,000 per year. We can only assume this number has greatly increased since then. $800,000 is only a minor drop in the bucket and averages less than 16 of those 255 THOUSAND people's tax dollars for ONE year. I again, respectfully, ask you: How much would the price tag be that you would put on your child(ren)'s life? How much of a price tag would you put on any child's life? How much of a price tag would you put on CONNOR MCGRATH'S life? To all of us who are signing this petition, CONNOR MCGRATH'S life cannot be measured by a dollar figure. Connor McGrath is priceless. We are asking, begging, demanding our Government to reconsider their denial of Connor's treatment. We are stating that we want our tax dollars to be contributed to a living and healthy Connor McGrath. We, the people of Canada and beyond, request your prompt attention to this matter as you are the only hope of achieving this goal. Should you reject our request, you reject the chance of life and health for a 13 year old boy. Please take note of Connor's comment on this petition, "I want to live!" Prime Minister Trudeau, are you going to help Connor live?   Sincerely,  Petition Signers from Canada & Beyond