Life, with its sense of humor, managed to dry my tears, so much so that the blow is massive!
I am Frieda, 47 years old, a Clinical Nurse Manager, married, and mother of 3 beautiful children. I go through life without any major health anomalies, except for sickle cell anemia, common in the Black community. There are no hints of anything in my routine blood tests that would singal any alarms.
Suddenly, on a Friday night in February 2018, unlike any other, the laboratory calls me and asks me to quickly go to the hospital. I refuse to do so, without saying anything, but I sense that it's urgent. I enjoy my weekend first, and on Monday morning, I go to the hospital. After another battery of tests, it's my turn, the Doctor takes me into his office. He tells me that the results of my blood test show that I have Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML). I'm not sure if I'm listening because I hear nothing, I'm shocked, stunned, paralyzed, crushed, softened, strange, I see stars, all the feelings rush through my head in a very short time.
BOOM!!! black curtain.
As I leave the medical office, with a prescription for oral chemotherapy for 5 years, I arrive in the parking lot, not knowing where to go. I call one of my sisters and pass on what I think the Doctor told me. Everything becomes heavy and I wonder how I will break the news to my husband? to my children? What will become of me? Why me? I think about death since, as a nurse, I accompany patients on their journeys... Moments of utter emptiness... I understand that I will have to step aside to get treated myself.
I keep the silence of my new condition and only share it with my husband, my mother, my sisters, and brother. I explain to them that it's a blood disease, a cancer, which comes without warning signs, it's insidious, meaning its benign appearance masks severity in the beginning. I tell them that this blood disease is not contagious, it's also not hereditary, I just hit the jackpot (humorously out of desperation), that I might experience a lot of fatigue. I add that there will be heavy treatment, with side effects, ultimately, there's still death.
Internally, I don't want to be singled out, I don't want to be seen differently from others, I don't want to be pitied. I want to continue living normally. After all, I didn't choose to have this disease, it just happened to me. I accept the treatment of oral chemotherapy that I start, with meticulous medical follow-ups. It's the beginning of my race for Survival.
I decide that this disease belongs to a body that needs to be healed, I refuse to stop my life, I refuse to stop working. I continue our immigration project started in 2016, which materializes in 2019.
My questioning and various research never stopped. What is the message of this disease for me? Is it random? I don't care, I take it and feel it as a Call.
On my journey, I find the LLSC, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada. I then decide to get involved. I first become a volunteer for thier First Connection program, to help people who receive the same diagnosis as me. Then, I offer to provide training services.
In early 2023, while I hope my Doctor will announce remission, he tells me he prefers to consolidate the treatment and leaves me the choice to stop it or continue for an additional 2 years!!! Another blow... I stand tall.
I don't stop here. I will only stop when I take my last breath.
So, join me and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada in fighting and defeating blood cancers together.
This year, I am a VISIONARY candidate for their srping fundrasing campaign, and I ask for your support - everyone's support - to help me reach my fundraising goal of $50,000 during the 10-week philanthropic competition (from March 21 to May 30, 2024) to cure patients with blood cancer like me. Feel free to share my initiative with your network, because together, we can make a difference.
I thank you in advance and I hope that never again will blood cancer patients find themselves isolated due to lack of information and support.