Chris Puglia
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 09/02) - Vi Beck is used to helping other people. But that all changed last December when the 48-year-old was diagnosed with adrenal cancer. She's doing all she can to fight the disease so she can watch her grandchildren grow up, and that means relying on others to help her get through each day.

Yellowknifelife: Let's start at the beginning. What kind of cancer do you have?

Vi Beck: Adrenal cancer, which is a very rare cancer. Only one in a million people get the jackpot.

Yellowknifelife: What is adrenal cancer?

VB: It is cancer of the adrenal gland, which is the gland that produces all the chemicals in the body. There is nothing known about it because it is so rare. There is no chemotherapy or anything in Canada for it.

Yellowknifelife: When were you diagnosed?

VB: I was diagnosed December 1, 2001.

Yellowknifelife: How did the diagnosis come about?

VB: I was being treated for depression, stress, diabetes and menopause, all of those symptoms are part of the symptoms for adrenal cancer. But because it is so rare it wasn't recognized and I was being treated for these symptoms separately

Yellowknifelife: How did they finally determine what was really happening to you?

VB: It seems weird to say this but thank God my father-in-law had a heart attack. I wanted to see a diabetes specialist. I could tell something was wrong but I thought it was the diabetes acting up. When I was with my father-in-law in Edmonton I got into to see a diabetes specialist. I broke through the system.

When I went to see him I told him I don't want to see you I just wanted a referral to a specialist. On the Tuesday after the Remembrance Day long weekend, I got into see her (the specialist). She recognized I had Cushing Syndrome -- and it is also fatal if they don't catch it. She did all these tests and called me at home and said get back to Edmonton this is serious stuff. But we didn't know it was cancer at that point.

Yellowknifelife: What happened when you got back to Edmonton?

VB: They stuck me in the hospital and I got my CAT scan the next day. That's when they found the cancer. Two weeks later they had me in surgery cutting out all the cancer they could find.

They took out a third of my liver, part of my diaphragm, my adrenal gland on the right side, my gall bladder and a growth the size of two grapefruits.

Yellowknifelife: When the fact that you had cancer had sunk in, what went through your mind?

VB: How am I going to get everything done I need to get done before I die.

Yellowknifelife: Have you been able to answer that question for yourself?

VB: I've answered it for myself in a number of ways. I'm very comfortable with dying. I'm not afraid of dying. I've just cut back my priorities.

Yellowknifelife: What are your priorities now?

VB: My first priority is I'm in the middle of publishing a book of my family tree and I want to finish that. I've been working on it for 10 years. I want to make sure my family is ready. I'm not planning on dying but I don't have an option. So I want to make sure they -- my husband, my children and my grandchildren -- are ready for that.

Yellowknifelife: How many children and grandchildren do you have?

VB: I have three children, ages 22, 26, and 31 and three grandchildren, ages two, three and six. I got another one (grandchild) coming Christmas so I got to stick around to see that one.

Yellowknifelife: How have you come to terms with what has happened to you?

VB: The way I deal with it is by talking about it with other people, not just privately, but publicly. What I've found is we are all in the same boat. We are just dealing with different things. I like to look at the things as the cup being half full instead of half empty.

Yellowknifelife: Why did you choose to go to Mexico for holistic treatment (for cancer)?

VB: Because the system in Canada and the U.S. can't do anything for me. I was lucky I didn't have to choose between the chemo or the radiation, which is a poison in itself. I want to live for these grandchildren so I am looking at all my options.

Yellowknifelife: How did you decide on the clinic?

VB: I phoned all of them. When I said I had cancer they said come on down and they could help me. I chose the first one that said we need all your medical records and we'll tell you if we can help you.

Yellowknifelife: Was the treatment successful?

VB: I know I made the right choice. I don't know my cancer is cured. I can't say that. But I met a man down there who had 24 hours to live by conventional means, and he walked out of their three weeks later. He came in there in a wheelchair barely alive.

Yellowknifelife: Can you describe the treatment process?

VB: What they try to do is to get all the nutrients into your body as quickly as possible. I eat 50 pounds of carrots, 10-15 pounds of tomatoes and 30 pounds of potatoes all in the form of juice and soup every week. No meat because it's too hard to digest.

Yellowknifelife: How has your lifestyle been since being back?

VB: I'm tired because I'm doing the treatment process myself and it is a 12-hour a day job just to survive. Your body needs time to rest, time to heal and I haven't been able to that. But come Monday (Oct. 1) I will have help. I am having home care come in.

Yellowknifelife: What is you life philosophy now?

VB: We got too much on our plates and we need to get back to basics. In reality if we get back to basics we will solve the social issues we have now. It's more important to live in peace than to have all these other things. Life is just a process. From the moment we are born we are meant to die. You know Mr. Reporter you could die before me. Do you know how many people died this morning? Why do we wait until we are sick to re-evaluate our lives.

Yellowknifelife: What has been the hardest part of all of this for you?

VB: The hardest part of all of this is I am known for helping others and working hard, and when you're independent like that the hardest part is becoming dependent. I need to learn it happens to everyone and now it's my turn.