Video ‘Stolen her childhood’: Family seeks $20k to help seven-year-old Goodlow student suffering with Lyme disease

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A couple from Alberta is looking for $20,000 to pay for treatment to help their seven-year-old daughter who has had her “childhood stolen” by Lyme disease.

Ashley Klassen told Energeticcity.ca that her seven-year-old daughter Bentley suffers from Lyme disease.

Lyme disease is a bacterial illness typically spread by ticks. Symptoms range from rashes, fevers and headaches to migratory pain, arthritis and nerve pain. 

Klassen says her daughter suffers from exhaustion, fatigue and severe memory loss.

“She is not handling this well at all, this has stolen her childhood right out from underneath her,” said Klassen.

Bentley’s symptoms have left her unable to attend Clearview Elementary and Junior Secondary School in Goodlow. 

“She should be in grade two, [but] can no longer know how to spell her name anymore,” said Klassen.

“Some days she’s lucky if she can count to 10 and it has tremendously affected her life and has declined her health majorly.”

Klassen says it is very hard for her daughter to find joy day to day. 

“The laughing and smiling is very few and far in between and when we do see it, we try to take every moment of it in but it doesn’t come often,” said Klassen.

“Right now, we probably see about one [or] two good days out of every two to three weeks.”

Bentley began to see symptoms by 2022 and got a confirmed diagnosis in March 2025.

The family spent lots of time outdoors, with her daughter having a passion for riding horses.  

“We’re not sure when she got bit, or where she was when she got bit, but we are very avid outdoors people,” said Klassen.

“She can barely ride anymore because it causes her so much pain.”

Klassen claimed her daughter struggled to get the care she needed in Canada and so the family decided to pay for the expense themselves.

“It’s been really hard as a parent to watch your child decline and to be asking and going to your doctor to get help and having no help whatsoever,” she explained. 

“Having to take matters into your own hands and pay out of pocket for your child to be healthy [and] to get answers for your child in order to get her hopefully on the right track, but it’s been very hard to watch her struggle.”

Instead, the family decided to go to Mexico for IV antibiotics and other specialized treatment.

“She really needs the IV immune boosting to get her immune system to where it needs to be to help her even fight anything,” said Klassen. 

Klassen said her husband Andrew is working hard to meet the large expenses for their daughter’s treatment while also being a present father.

“He has the stress of the financial burden on his shoulders, so he’s been trying to work as much as he can to be able to afford mental treatment while also trying to be as present as he can in her life and being there for her when she needs,” said Klassen. 

“She is a dad’s girl, and her dad means everything to her.”

In order to pay for the treatment, a GoFundMe has been started with a goal of $20,000.

At the time of this writing, $15,560 has been raised.

More on Bentley’s story can be viewed below: