First, I must apologize for such a lengthy absence. The last year has been a whirlwind of both personal and professional growth, trials and tribulations and best of all, breaking through the glass ceiling of what was previously possible. I say ‘previously possible’ because if there is one thing that the last six years have taught me it’s that what we believe to be possible is often limited by what we think can be accomplished. What we believe is possible also implies what we believe to be IMpossible. However, possibility is truly only limited by the laws of the physical world. For example, the sun will always rise in the east and set in the west. No matter how hard you try, you will never be able to make the sun rise in the west. It’s impossible. Things that are not defined by the laws of the world are absolutely possible. You could move further east and it would feel like the sun is rising earlier for a while. That is possible.
I remember being 24 years old and starting a new job as a Client Service Representative for a transfer agent in the Canadian investment space. I was excited to get the job. It paid better than my previous job and being it was a small company, the bosses knew our names. I liked being treated like a person rather than an employee number. As a young person with a high school diploma, an accomplishment in my family, but with no post-secondary education, I considered myself fortunate to have such a job. I hadn’t been sure it was possible.
Nine months later, after taking up to 100 calls a day, some from angry financial advisors, I started feeling trapped, like I couldn’t do it anymore. I thought I’d rip my hair out with frustration! But instead, I moved the goalposts of what I believed was possible and started applying for jobs internally. By the time I turned 26 years old, I was hired as an Account Representative within the Relationship Management team. I couldn’t believe it. I would be helping the Relationship Managers take care of their clients, who were investment fund companies across Canada. Me! On the Relationship Management team!
I continued to do that for each baby step I took in my career. Less so in my personal life until I became a mom. And though the steps in my personal life, after the birth of my incredible daughter, Victoria, were micro, I persisted. In hindsight, those steps forward, the progression of life, was often triggered by circumstances. It wasn’t until the day I landed in the hospital with a critical diagnosis of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia and was told, in so many words, that I might not make it through the first ten days of treatment that I decided I didn’t want the circumstances of life to dictate my path anymore. I wanted to be the captain of my own ship; sail whatever seas I chose to explore and on that first day of my twenty-two-day stay, I decided that’s exactly what I would do.
I didn’t really know what that meant for me. What I knew for sure was that the events leading up to my admission to hospital were unacceptable (read more about my journey through the Canadian healthcare system here, The Road to Courageous Living: Learning Audacious Self-Love and the Skills to Harness Personal Success). I couldn’t help but think about how many people had been in the exact same position before me but may not have possessed the assertion that I needed to finally be offered help. I imagined how many people have sat in front of a triage nurse describing the odd things happening to their body with no understanding of the danger they were in – because dying doesn’t always feel the way we imagine it when watching a movie – and would have just gone home and been lost when the nurse chalked up their unusual bleeding to a heavy period, or being dramatic, only to hemorrhage and die. Unconscionable and unacceptable.
So, on that first day of my hospital stay, as the nurse of the day put on her latex gloves to remove the cytotoxic pills from their individually packaged pods for me to consume, I said, “You know, this is total bullshit. I’ve lived my life trying to please everyone else. No more.” She didn’t look up from the mountain of pills she was preparing me but acknowledged my rant with a, “Uh-huh.”
“I think I’m going to quit my job, write a book and maybe do some public speaking.” Finally, she looked at me as she handed me a little cup with at least 10 pills in it. She said, “That sounds great but how about we get through today first.” I thought that was fair. But I decided, all the same, that I wanted to help people entering the Canadian healthcare system get the help they needed and deserved. I would make the sector jump from investments to healthcare with the fiery purpose of improving patient experiences because what I had endured and was yet to experience should NEVER have happened. And yet it did.
That was 6 years, 4 months and 4 days ago. After a whole lot of learning, juggling, overcoming, networking and long days, I’ve done exactly what I said I would do. I began public speaking in 2018, only four months after my diagnosis. I published my first book in October 2022. And lastly, on March 26, 2024, I left my very secure job after 20+ years in the investment industry to fully commit myself to the goal I set my sights on that day in the hospital as the nurse handed me my pills.
For the first time in my life, I made an intentional, proactive plan to achieve something. An audacious plan that some people thought was a little crazy, a little too ambitious, maybe even impossible. I decided that to improve the patient experience for Canadians, I would become a lived experience consultant and split my focus between inspiring patients to advocate for themselves and working with healthcare organizations to ensure their structure and services always keep patients, their clients, top of mind.
And I can now confirm, as living proof, that anything is possible.
Although I can’t say what the future will hold, what I know for sure is, I am every bit the badass people told me I was when I strutted the halls of Juravinski Cancer Centre, proudly donning my completely bald head during treatment. Even though it was scary and the future was uncertain, I didn’t let that get in the way of doing what I needed to do. And helping people is exactly what I need to do.
For the time being, I will continue to focus on driving forward the initiatives I’ve been working on off “the side of my desk” for the last couple of years. I’ll share exciting updates about Immunocompromised People Are Not Expendable (IPANE), an online support group I founded in October 2020 to give immunocompromised people a safe space as the world sloppily learned to navigate COVID-19. Now, with more than 1800 members representing 30+ countries globally, the group has been formalized with its own branding. IPANE will become a member of the Canadian Immunocompromised Advocacy Network (CIAN) and the International Immunocompromised Advocacy Network (IIAN), both of whom are driving awareness of the immunocompromised community and its challenges, as well as efforts to improve the speed and equitable access to therapeutics and advocating for policies that will allow people with compromised immune systems to move more safely in the world again.
While I focus on these efforts, I will also be open to exploring other opportunities to support healthcare organizations, and ultimately patients, to ensure an exceptional and, more importantly, the safest possible patient experience in Canada.
Thank you to everyone who supported and encouraged me in the investment space. Your kindness will never be forgotten.
Thank you to everyone in the healthcare space who has given me a chance to learn and demonstrate my abilities to support in this (new to me) space. I’ve never been so excited to work and I welcome any opportunities to bring my dream to fruition; self-sustainability so that I can continue to help protect Canadians in the Canadian healthcare system.
Until next time, take good care of each other.
So You've Got Cancer 