This cancer survivor celebrated her birthday by paying strangers' hospital parking fees

Krystyna Locke decided to celebrate her 63rd birthday in a very familiar place — the cancer clinic at her local hospital.

The London, Ont., lymphoma survivor spent the last year fundraising to cover cancer patients' parking fees, one of the many out-of-pocket costs related to health care that can add up over time and become a burden.

On Tuesday, she set up near an entrance at the London Health Sciences Centre with a stack of parking vouchers and a banner that reads: "Happy birthday to me. Your parking is free."

"Today, I received hugs. I received kisses on the cheek. I shared tears with people. I shared laughter. There was joking. It just completely lightens the mood," Locke told As It Happens guest host Aarti Pole.

"They're walking very heavy because they're carrying a burden, right? And when they saw my sign, they would walk up to me and, right away, a big smile on their face and they were so thankful."

Locke can recognize that heaviness in strangers because she's experienced it herself. In 2004, she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

"Walking into the cancer clinic, especially for the first time, you're terrified, you are anxious, it's unknown, and the carpet's been ripped out from under your feet," she said. "You have no idea if you're going to even survive the next year."

Soon after her initial diagnosis, she says, doctors removed 26 lymph nodes from one side of her neck. But that was only the beginning of her cancer journey.

Over the next two decades, she would return to the cancer clinic for regular checkups so doctors could monitor her health, until 2023, when a much more aggressive form of lymphoma developed on the other side of her neck.

After that, she says, she had to undergo chemotherapy, and make more frequent visits to the London hospital's Verspeeten Family Cancer Centre.

But, today, she is cancer-free.

"When I was done my treatments, I just felt like I needed to do something more," she said.

"I wanted to do something that would directly go to the patient. And what better way than covering their parking for the day?"

Parking fees have long put a financial strain on patients in Canada, where health-care is free, but the associated non-medical costs are not.

A Canadian Cancer Society report in December estimated cancer patients face on average almost $33,000 in out-of-pocket cancer-related costs in their lifetime, a number that's expected to rise with the cost of living.

These costs, the report notes, include things like medication, lost wages, travel, caregiving, lodgings, food, and, yes, parking fees.

"I've been going to the cancer clinic for over two decades, and when you're there … you do strike up conversations with other patients," Locke said. "The common theme was how long we're waiting [and] we know that that means our parking is going to cost more."

At the London Health Sciences Centre, the maximum daily parking fee is $12. But at hospitals in downtown Toronto, those daily rates can be more than twice as much.

A London Health Sciences Centre spokesperson acknowledged the financial burden that comes with parking fees, especially for long-term patients, but said the revenue collected goes towards the hospital's operational costs.

In fact, hospitals in Ontario have to re-invest their parking fees under provincial regulations, put in place in 2016.

Those rules also require institutions that charge more than $10 a day to offer patients, their family members and visitors five-day, 10-day and 30-day passes at a 50 per cent discount off the daily maximum rate.

But when hospitals don't own parking lots, nearby private parking isn't subject to the rules.

WATCH | The out-of-pocket costs of cancer care:

A new report from the Canadian Cancer Society suggests cancer patients are paying tens of thousands of dollars out-of-pocket for expenses including transportation, prescription drugs and medical devices. And those costs make fighting the disease much more difficult.

An NDP motion to eliminate hospital parking fees for patients, families, and health-care workers in Ontario — and cover revenue shortfalls for hospitals — was voted down in June.

Nova Scotia started covering the cost of hospital parking in May for patients, health-care workers and visitors.

Quebec, since 2020, has offered free parking for the first two hours at public health institutions for patients and visitors, and capped hospital parking fees at $10 a day.

British Columbia ended its two-year free hospital parking in 2022, saying that too many drivers abused the system for non-health-care-related reasons. The province still covers the cost for patients receiving dialysis or cancer treatment in acute-care programs, and for parents or caregivers of children staying in the hospital overnight.

While Locke says free hospital parking would be the ideal scenario, she says people who want to help ease patients' burden can do so right now by following her lead.

She raised $3,700 throughout the year, first by collecting empty beer and liquor bottles from friends and family, and later by teaming up with the hospital to create a fundraising page.

On Tuesday, she was able to cover parking for roughly 300 patients.

"A lovely surprise," said Trish Eagleson, one of the people who received a free parking pass from Locke. "It's a wonderful initiative."

While she's giving back to others, Locke says it's also a birthday gift for herself.

"They brought me as much joy as I was bringing to them, because I know how they're feeling at that moment when they're walking into the clinic," she said. "It's just a wonderful feeling knowing that I was making someone happy."

Locke, whose actual birthday is in July, plans to return next summer to celebrate her 64th.