I would first like to begin with a couple of words of gratitude to Thrive Alive Foundation

Thank you for being there for us. For helping us through this sometimes perilous journey from diagnosis to healing. Thank you for your tireless belief in us, in our own healing and in our own strength.  Belief in me throughout my process allowed me to believe in myself again to take on this fat grafting project.

I would also like to set some context for the fat grafting petition. We walk through life sometimes with a haze of "I don't know what I don't know". That is how I began around my surgery. I went on the computer to look up what mastectomies and partial mastectomies were about and how they might look. Some of the pictures scared and horrified me so I left the world of the internet and reached out to women. Women who were kind and brave and who were not only willing to share their stories but were also willing to share their results with me. They would walk into the nearest public washroom and lift up their shirts to show me their surgeries. They made it very clear that they were there to help us newbies (newly diagnosed women with breast cancer). I knew then that someday I would be there for them or for the many other women who were being diagnosed daily.

Because of what I saw through them, I also knew that I needed to be very involved with choices around my surgery. I sought out a lovely surgeon who was willing to work with me to minimize the type of reconstructive surgery that I would have, deciding on everything from placement of incisions and thus scars, to how the body would heal and fill itself in with the help of gravity. She was wonderful.

After a year and a half of treatment I was ready to consider reconstruction. I went to see the plastic surgeon who informed me that all my preparations with my surgeon had paid off and that I could have a procedure called fat grafting (lipofilling) to correct my left breast.

The great things about this procedure were that it had minimal down time ( I have 2 children), could most often be done under local anesthetic in the doctors office, recovery was quick as most of the procedure is done with only using syringes, there was no lasting damage to any other parts of the body, there was no lasting pain after healing, and there was no lasting structural damage to the rest of the body like some of the other surgeries being done.

It was good for the patient and it was good for MSP. Great so where did the "but" come in as I could sense that one was about to be delivered to me. The doctor let me know that the plastic surgeons had applied to have this procedure covered by MSP, but with no success and a seven year long process. OK, so there was the "but". She was clear that I could pay for this privately as other women had been doing. Unfortunately, being off work for the past 2 years did not allow me to have that much disposable income and I was sure the same was true for most of my Cancer sisters. I asked the doctor what she thought would help and she mentioned a patient petition.

I left the office somewhat discouraged and wondering if I would ever be able to have this surgery and move on with my life. I questioned if I even needed to have reconstruction in order to move on with my life. After a week of soul searching, I realized that, yes, I was not going to move on if I was constantly seeing myself damaged from this experience. If I felt this way, there were many other women who felt this way as well. Other women were there to help mentor and take care of me during this difficult time. Now it was my turn to give back.

I realized that I would need a doctor to help sponsor this petition, so I approached Dr. Walter Lemmo who has always been there for me. He said to write something up and he would help get organizations on board. Coincidentally, or perhaps, as a sign of fate, Thrive Alive Foundation was gearing up for their launch event in April 2011, and the team allowed me to bring the petition in order to start gathering signatures, and thus launch my own campaign. The Thrive Alive Foundation launch event became my own launch event and truly helped begin this process to provide lipofilling for all British Columbians. I collected over 100 signatures that evening

For the next few months, I made it my priority to get signatures. Everywhere I went I took my clip board with the petition. Another cancer organization, InspireHealth, allowed me to speak with people after classes to get more signatures and they left a petition on their living room table for people to sign. Every appointment that I had at the Cancer Agency, I took my time to go around the waiting rooms to get more signatures. I faxed the petition out to various support groups for signatures. When I had 300 signatures, I approached Colin Hansen, my MLA. He said that it made sense from a fiscal, medical and emotional stance, and would take it forward to the Minister of Health. I kept gathering signatures so that he would have a lot of support to show The Minister.

At the beginning of June, Colin called to let me know that we would have an answer within 3 weeks. From the time I began the petition, to the time we got our answer from the Ministry of Health, it took 4 months.

Now every women who qualifies for a fat grafting reconstructive procedure by their doctor can have it covered. No longer are they dependent upon how much money they personally have, and whether or not they can pay for it themselves.

But we are not done. There are thousands of women out there who were told that they could only have this procedure if they paid for it themselves. These women gave up and have walked away. They do not know about this new development. I want to find them and tell them that they should now head back to their doctor's office if they still want the reconstruction done, if they still feel that it is a necessary part of completing their healing process.

We also need to let doctors and surgeons know that this is what we want before they do our surgeries, so that they can keep the whole picture in mind. For some of us, reconstruction is as much part of our treatment plan as chemotherapy.

What did I learn from all of this? Well, I guess I was reminded of how powerful we all are if we stand together. So please stand with me, and get the word out to our Cancer sisters!

I’m so grateful and appreciative to be the first award recipient for Wings of Change… I can’t tell you how much this means to me and every woman eager to move forward and to thrive.

In August, 2010, I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. Did I ever think it would happen to me? not a chance, but it did... On August 26^th, my ct scan showed my tumour to be approximately the size of a golf ball! I was scheduled to have surgery with the first available date in November…3 months away. The wait initially seemed like forever, but I insisted on incorporating integrative cancer care approaches in my treatment, which included regular Vitamin C infusions, elements of orthomolecular medicine, long walks in the forest (my refuge) and the basics for a healthy life. My surgery day finally came and I had my tumour removed. On November 22, 2010, I had an appointment to remove my catheter and that’s when I got the news – the incredible news that my tumour had actually shrunk to the size of a penny! I couldn’t believe it, in 87 days, my tumour shrank from the size of a golf ball, to that of a penny… thanks to the integrative non-traditional treatments that I was fortunate enough to try (I did not do any form of chemotherapy in this interval between diagnosis and surgery). My treatment choices made the surgery so much simpler than expected and my healing, almost effortless.

One of my passions is song-writing… my songs and poetry help me evolve and grow and I’d like to share this one with you…

A slow walk in the forest

A slow walk in the forest daily, is something I must do,

It gives me inspiration, so I can write this song for you,

The energy in the forest, fills me with golden rays of sun,

It makes me energetic, so I can sing and dance and run.

The trees grow straight and tall, they reach halfway to the stars,

Energy descends from heaven, grows tree trunks thick as cars,

The air’s so clean, the sun so bright, my steps so easy, my steps so light.

A slow walk in the forest, instills peaceful insight, and makes all things just right.

A daily walk in the forest, is something that I must do,

It makes me strong a healthy, and it can do the same for you,

There is peace, harmony and stillness, it permeates the air,

The natural sounds and colour, fills your spirit with universal care.

For beauty, symmetry, and love is, something tangible that you can feel,

A daily walk in the forest, brings out the best in you, it’s free, oh what a deal!

Life has the habit of sending you curve balls when you least expect it. While on DeCouracy island I became ill and my friends took me to Nanimo hospital.    " You have metasized cancer.  Prognosis  three weeks!"  the doctor told me.  You can imagine the shock, horror and desperation I felt upon hearing this news.  When my 19 year-old son arrived and I carefully explained what I had been told.  He  crawled in bed with me, put his arms around me and said, "Well Mom, then we have to have as much fun as possible"  That was three years, 7 months ago.

My oncologist informed me I had Leiomyosarcoma, a rare cancer that hits four people in a million. I would rather have won the lottery. Since the primary source of the cancer was in the uterus, a hysterectomy was performed.  They were unable to get all the cancer from the walls, so then it spread to my pelvis and both lungs. I was given the clinical trial drug Veg F Trap, but it did not work for me. Radiation shrunk the pelvis and uterine wall tumours but they were unable to get rid of it.

Although I was willing to try traditional cancer treatment, I knew I needed more. For me, I was lucky to try naturopathic medicine and acupuncture in the first three weeks of my diagnosis – and continue to this day. My naturopath and acupuncturist gave me the power to help myself and the confidence to believe that I had choices. I believe I would not be here today without their intervention.   I think the key for me was that I started alternate treatments almost immediately after diagnosis.

I am thrilled that the Thrive Alive Foundation has been established. Alternate treatment is so expensive and prohibits many (and many friends of mine) from seeking out  these  treatments.  Congratulations to the organizers for helping provide life-saving treatments to all.

Lance Armstrong once said, “Without the illness I would never have been forced to re-evaluate my life and my career. I know if I had not had cancer, I would not have won the Tour de France”. Even at my age (I’m 46) I’m a mad keen cyclist and Lance is one of my all time heroes. He fought long odds against cancer to win the toughest race in the world seven times in a row.

On January 25th 2008 I was also diagnosed with the disease that in reality touches everyone’s life in some way. My own personal version was stage 3 colon cancer and I was given a fifty-fifty chance of survival. My life also changed forever. Following the diagnosis procedures moved extremely quickly. I had surgery within the month and then was given an intensive eight-month course of chemotherapy. If I had the means, integrative therapy would have been part of my cancer plan – but as a new immigrant to Canada, it was simply out of the question.

I am a sculpture by profession, but my work became nonexistent over night; I was completely unable to deal with the notion of making what could well be my final works… ever. This fallow period became both frustrating and barren for me. It took almost eighteen months before I was ready and confident enough to engage in the creative process again and begin making work. I truly believe that my work and creativity helped me heal and enter the new phase of my life – and how fortunate I am to be able to create again.

My latest body of work emerged from my experience with cancer and represents a genuine, honest attempt by myself to explore and evaluate my own very changed human condition within the sculptural context. In a sense, the works are a kind of therapy and represent an irresistible urge from myself to pull some light from the darkness, some shred of positive energy to cancel out the negative. To try and make some sense of it all and have a deeper understanding of the rollercoaster journey into cellular purgatory.

The work is essentially about the ongoing experience, an attempt to contextualize in the physical the effects both on me as a person and at a more intense, visceral level the inevitable neurosis within.

Lance also said, “I want to die at 100 years old with an American flag on my back and the star of Texas on my helmet after screaming down an alpine descent on a bicycle at 120 kilometres an hour” I’d like to be riding right there with him.......