Fed up with parking fees, a Winnipeg cancer patient is vowing to vandalize parking meters that stand between him and his treatments.

Collin Kennedy has been battling a form of leukemia for 17 years, all the while paying for parking, he says, should be free.

The 48-year-old single father lives on a fixed income.

Kennedy said he’s paid up to $15,000 in parking fees since his diagnosis in 1999, enough money to pay for two years of his son’s university education.

But Kennedy doesn’t plan on paying for the city parking meters anymore.

In May he damaged a meter with expanding foam. Kennedy said he’ll do it again, in the hopes of alleviating the burden and hassle of cancer patients paying for parking.

“If I disable this machine, that gives everyone who comes to this building free parking, which means they don’t have to worry. They go in, get their chemo and come out,” Kennedy told CTV News Wednesday. “But if we take the money from people, why would we do that? Why would we take the life from people?”

With the help of his mother, Kennedy travels lying down, on his back to CancerCare Manitoba for treatments. She can’t drop him off alone because he needs help attending appointments.

The leukeima has taken a lot from Kennedy. He used to stand almost 6-feet tall. He’s now 5’2”.

Still, the cancer hasn’t taken Kennedy’s spirit, or his passion for patients, who he says, have a right to free parking.

“I’m very proud of him. I’m not for vandalism of any kind, but someone had to take a stance,” said Kennedy’s mother Julia Berschley.

Berschley left her husband in British Columbia in July 2015 to help care for Kennedy.

Kennedy and Berschley plan to write a letter to Mayor Brian Bowman in the hopes rules and policies can change.

Broken meter to cost city $4,500

The City of Winnipeg says it will cost $4,500 to fix the broken meter.

As of Wednesday, Kennedy isn’t facing any vandalism-related charges.

The city says there are 475 street parking spots around Health Sciences Centre, and 8,000 employees.

It says it won’t be removing parking meters around Health Sciences Centre.

“If we made parking free people would say ‘there is nowhere to park,’‘do something to control this,’ so we are trying to strike a balance,” said Colin Stewart, policy analyst with the Winnipeg Parking Authority.

CancerCare Manitoba and Health Sciences Centre respond

“It’s out of our hands,” said Judy Edmond a spokesperson with CancerCare Manitoba.

“We acknowledge that patients find parking frustrating to find and pay, and (they) deal with the occasional parking ticket,” she said in a phone call with CTV News Wednesday.

Edmond said CancerCare Manitoba recognizes parking for patients is an issue, “but it’s not in our control.”

The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority says it and HSC make minimal profits from hospital parking fees. The WRHA said all the money from HSC parking goes into maintaining parking facilities.

“Parking facilities within the WRHA operate on a cost-recovery basis with any revenue going directly back into services or parking infrastructure. Parking revenues at Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg are used to fund the cost of operating and sustaining the parking infrastructure. Parking Operations at HSC remain entirely funded through the collection of parking fees – Manitoba Health does not provide funding for these services. Alternative transportation is available to some patients through not-for-profit organizations,” said the WRHA’s Bronwyn Penner Holigroski in statement to CTV News.

Mayor weighs-in

“Charging those who park on the street in and around the Health Sciences Centre is a key factor in ensuring a healthy turnover in the availability of street parking. (It) helps ensure parking spots can become available. Without a fee, individuals who may not be attending the hospital or CancerCare could be occupying street parking for greater amounts of time thereby reducing the availability of short/medium term parking for patients,” said Jonathan Hildebrand, a spokesperson in the Mayor’s office, in statement sent to CTV News Wednesday.

“In other words, parking on the street comes at a cost, but it also helps ensure a parking spot is available when patients or family members need it, and also provides an option for those who cannot afford to pay the rates charged at any one of the five parkades located on the Health Sciences Centre campus.”