- incredible stories of compassion, strength and sadness
On Saturday Nov 18th, 2006, the Globe & Mail published Cancer: A day in the life.
It is a unique look at fifty Canadians living with, or dying from cancer. Fifty stories spread throughout the country, and throughout a single day - June 15, 2006. These stories are incredibly moving. Some are inspiring. Some are sad.
I can personally relate to many of the stories that Globe & Mail writer Erin Anderssen has collected. From stories of chemotherapy treatment to being strong for friends and relatives, from tearful relapses to joyful recovery and accomplishing athletic endeavors. I lived through many of these experiences with my family and friends. These are stories that will tug your heart strings. What really comes through in the stories are the importance of partners, family and friends.I don't know what I would have done without my family and girlfriend at the time. There were times that felt very lonely. There were times when it felt good just to have company. There were times when family and friends really took their own initiatives to help. Some people could talk about it - others couldn't. The "C word" still really scared a lot of people back in 1989.
It was 17 years ago this month, that I had my last chemotherapy treatment. It was a very fragile time in my life. My head was bald due to chemotherapy, and because the drugs killed any fast growing cells in your body, my finger nails had stopped growing, and my finger tips were slightly numb due to the drug's effects on the nerve endings. Balance was wobbly, and I lost the abiltiy to hear certains pitches of sound. But the week before Christmas, I was swinging a badminton raquet, wobbly on my feet - laughing and playing with my family.
June 21st, is always a special day for me. That was that day in 1989, when I was diagnosed with a life-threatening concer tumor. I had been gradually becoming sicker for months after initially complaining of back pain. Little did I know it was one of the warning symptoms of testicular cancer. Like in one of the stories... my doctor saw me as an athletically fit young man of 28 and did not think that behind my breast bone, a tumor would grow to the size of a large grapefruit. The doctors later told me that if I hadn't had treatment - my life expectancy from that day would have been two weeks. It was that serious. The tumor was pushing on my vena cava - restricting the blood flow to my heart, and putting pressure on my lungs, which had then filled half-way with fluid.
Upon reading the stories in the Globe & Mail, I thought back to what I was doing on June 15th 2006. This year I was busy preparing the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team for the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival that weekend. I was also getting my accordion ready to help send off the Head Tax redress train to Ottawa which would leave Vancouver on June 16th, and arrive in time for the Government's offical apology for the Head Tax and Exclusion Act on June 22nd.
Some people say "the cancer's gone - you're healthy now - get over it." But I am always a cancer survivor, and the experience stays with you for the rest of your life. I try to watch my health, eat good foods, exercise, reduce stress. As a Terry's Team member, each year I speak at Terry Fox Run sites in the Greater Vancouver area, as well as at elementary schools, serving as a living example that cancer research has helped to make a difference. Every now and then, people who experience health crises ask me for guidance about recovery. It's always good to talk to a walking success story. I guess that's what I am.
After my hospital recovery, I tried to study lots of things about health psychology and incorporated it into my studies at Simon Fraser University. I took classes in Behavorial Methods and Psychology of Emotion (psychology), Health and Illness and Medical Anthrology (anthropology/sociology), as well as Kinesiology, and Athletics. I had felt that I had effective used pyschological techniques such as visualization, pain management, social support and affirmations/self-talk, during my recovery from cancer, so I planned on furthering graduate studies for Health and Sport Psychology. But life takes turns down paths you don't expect. While I took one graduate class at SFU in Health Psychology, I never did apply for Psychology graduate school.
Here's a picture of Todd Wong (me) with Doug Alward (Terry Fox's best friend) and Terry Fleming (Terry Fox's high school basketball coach) at the 2005 25th Anniversary "Hometown Run" in Coquitlam. - photo Deb Martin
It's strange to think of the things that I would not have been involved in if I had died of cancer 17 years ago. But it's true... The Toddish McWong's Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner would not exist. None of it's spin-offs would exist: the CBC television special "Gung Haggis Fat Choy", Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night at the Vancouver Public Library or the SFU Gung Haggis Fat Choy Canadian Games. There would be no Taiwanese Dragon Boat Races in Vancouver, since I was the first to present the idea to the Taiwanese Cultural Festival and the Dragon Boat Association. And there certainly would be no Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team. I wouldn't have been guest speaker at the 1993 Terry Fox Run in Beijing, China, nor at any of the Terry Fox Runs or elementary schools that I have spoken at since. I wouldn't have helped create the Asian Canadian Writer's Workshop's Pioneer Community Dinners, nor the inaugural One Book One Vancouver program for the Vancouver Public Library. I wouldn't have been present on the campaign to save historic Joy Kogawa House or Chinese Head Tax Redress campaign,
We all have a life, and we make choices with how we live it. I am glad that I have been able to help enrich my community, and the lives of people that I connect with.
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The Globe & Mail is also doing some interactive stuff, for Cancer: A day in the life. They are inviting readers to join the Conversation and submit stories using the comment function on the left side of the page. They will publish here all the submissions that meet our guidelines. We will also choose a few stories each day to highlight at the bottom of this article.
They would also like to invite you to share your photos and images. Please e-mail them as attachments to sendusyourphotos@globeandmail.com.
Here are some significant articles about my cancer experience and my experiences as a Terry's Team member.
by
Todd
on Sun 18 Sep 2005 06:01 PM PDT
