The story of Lisa
My name is Lisa and I live in Toronto, Canada. I was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) in 2008, when my son Anthony was just one year old, and my daughter Grace was three. I am the founder of the Canadian CML Network and currently, the CML Advocates Network treasurer. I am also a journalist, writing about the challenges facing people living with cancer, but also exploring what it means to be a patient in Canada’s healthcare system. I am the Executive Producer of healthing.ca, a new health advocacy website run by one of Canada’s national newspapers.
My story living with CML begins when I decided to see a doctor about a strange-looking bruise on my arm, I had no idea that my life was about to change forever. After taking a look at the bruise, which had been getting bigger for a couple of months, my doctor took a deep breath and suggested that I go to the hospital as soon as possible.
Twelve hours later, a young resident in red high top Converse shoes leaned against my hospital bed and told me that I had a rare blood cancer called Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML). That night I walked between my children’s bedrooms, lying with them as they slept, listening to their breath and smelling their hair. I wondered if I was I going to die and leave them without a mother.
The next day I met an oncologist who told me that there was a medication that treated CML. He said that I had the ‘lucky leukemia.’ At the time, I didn’t feel so lucky. My life quickly changed from carefree and spending my time focused on being a good mom, to visits to the cancer clinic and painful tests. That was 12 years ago, and I am still here. My children are teenagers. My wish for them is that by the time they are my age, cancer is no longer a disease that kills.
My experience with CML and my work as an advocate has taught me three important things about moving forward with a scary disease.
- First, find a doctor who you trust, who is willing to answer your questions, and take the time to educate you in your disease.
- Second, find your friends who you can call or visit any time, if only to talk about how worried you are. CML may be treatable for many, but for many others, it is a death sentence. We need to be able to share our worries.
- Third, find your community. I learned that the key to moving ahead with CML was meeting other people who also had CML and shared my experiences. I realized that I was not alone.
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