Cancer survivors share stories
'It's OK to be scared' a resounding message at workshop
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Monday, February 15, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A health-care provider should never, under any circumstances, tell a person over the telephone that they have cancer, says a woman who was on the receiving end of such a phone call.
Beatrice Bernhardt, 63, is one of the cancer survivors who took part in a World Cancer Day sharing circle on Feb. 4 and 5 at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre.
While living in Kugluktuk in 2008, the Yellowknife resident received a phone call while at work in which she was told she had been diagnosed with cancer. She nearly fainted.
"There was no face-to-face. The doctor calls and says you have this kind of cancer. To hear that on the telephone was terrifying," Bernhardt said.
No matter where she received it, the news was always going to be traumatic and life changing - but to hear it at work made it that much more difficult, she said. Once she explained her dismay to the doctor, she received an apology.
Bernhardt said she had surgery in 2009 and had to travel back and forth to both Edmonton and Yellowknife for treatment for about seven weeks. She said the surgery was successful but it was followed by 16 rounds of radiation therapy. She was declared cancer free in 2013.
Bernhardt said that one thing that was hammered home among the roughly 40 people at the sharing circle was that it is OK to be scared.
"All I knew was that I was really tired, really exhausted all the time. Two mammograms detected my cancer at an early stage. I was lucky," she said. "But I was terrified because the first thing that goes into your head is I'm going to die."
Bernhardt said her family was pretty much forced to go through the cancer journey with her and it was very therapeutic for her to share her experiences with other cancer survivors.
"I learned during the sharing circle that I was not alone and that was very important," she said. It was empowering. I could finally put a name and a face to people who have gone through the same thing I did. During the break people came up to me and hugged me and whispered words of encouragement to me."
Bernhardt said that she has tried to help other people going through the same cancer ordeal by posting a video to YouTube in her native Inuinnaqtun language talking about what it is like to deal with cancer and encouraging women to get mammograms.
She said the one thing that bothered her since she was declared cancer free is that she really isn't.
"They told me I still have to get a mammogram once a year and that I will have to fight cancer for the rest of my life. I said, 'What? I thought it was done,' finito. I was very surprised and got angry but now I am accepting of it."
Dr. Andre Corriveau, NWT chief public health officer, also attended the sharing circle. He agreed that telling someone they have cancer over the phone when they are at work is not a good health-care practice.
"It happens. Part of the intent at my level is to listen to the issues and concerns people have and help make the cancer journey easier to go through, Corriveau said.
Corriveau said he believes the territory has done a better job of helping people through the cancer treatment process including a new 10-year strategy introduced last year and a cancer journey navigator position currently in place at Stanton Territorial Hospital. He said that the area where we lag behind much of the rest of the country is screening for the disease. He encourages residents to talk to their physicians and get screened so that if they do have cancer it can be detected early.
