© Photo courtesy of Phillip Fitzsimmons Phillip Fitzsimmons was cut off his group disability benefits two years after his cancer diagnosis while, according to his doctor, he was still suffering from severe side effects from chemotherapy.

Phillip Fitzsimmons woke up in the middle of the night one day in February 2016 with a breathtaking, shooting pain in his abdomen.

"It felt like somebody was taking a sword and jamming it between my legs and on the right side of my stomach," the 36-year old Brampton, Ont., man told Global News over the phone.

By March, Fitzsimmons had been forced to leave his job as an assembly-plant quality monitor, which requires heavy lifting. By May, medical tests had confirmed a diagnosis of intestinal cancer. And by July 2016, his workplace disability benefits had kicked in, providing a monthly income that Fitzsimmons said was just under $2,000.