Either you’ve been touched by it personally, or you know someone who has. It’s a dirty word and most people don’t like to speak of it or think of it until they hear it from a doctor’s lips reading off their prognosis pad.
Yes, that’s right... I’m talking about the dreaded C word.
If you or a loved one hasn’t heard the diagnosis yourself, you may not know that cancer is a disease that occurs when changes in a group of normal cells within the body lead to uncontrolled abnormal growth. In most cases of cancer, this growth forms a lump, commonly known as a tumour. (Except in the case of leukaemia, where the changes occur within the bone marrow and alter its production of white blood cells).
I was like most people – not wanting to speak or think of the disease – up until a month ago, when I was forced to come face-to-face with what I dreaded the most: hearing a loved one was diagnosed after some routine blood testing.
Since then, I’ve spent more time than I ever imagined I would walking the halls and riding the elevators of the Tom Baker Cancer Centre at Foothills Hospital in Calgary. I now know the faces of employees off by heart and I am on a first-name basis with many of the support staff and nurses.
During my loved one’s stay at the hospital, I’ve experienced a level of care unlike any other. While many people are disgruntled by our provincial health-care system, I see one sector of its operations rising to the challenge.
There is a sense that the people working there really understand the importance their efforts have on so many lives. I’ve also personally witnessed others battling the disease.
There is a sober sense of what many people are facing in the building, but underneath it all, there is a veil of hope.
And there is good reason to have hope when strides are being made every day towards improved cancer prevention and treatment, especially in our own province. Calgary is considered a hub for cancer research, treatment, and care, but that’s nothing compared to what it is poised to be in the coming years.
Through a collaboration between Alberta Health Services, the University of Calgary, and the Alberta Cancer Foundation, and with the help of millions of dollars in donations, Calgary will soon be home to one of the largest and most comprehensive cancer centres in North America.
The facility’s exterior walls (already fixed at the forefront of the Foothills Hospital complex) will shelter 1.3 million square feet of world-leading cancer care, research, and education.
Rather than donating funds into global cancer initiatives where you may or may not see the fruits of your contribution, I would encourage you to support the efforts to “Own Cancer” in our own back yard. To learn more, visit owncancer.ca
