#ChooseHOPE!

Three More Reasons to Hold onto Hope

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In a challenging season, there are opportunities to be seized. When life is hard, there is still good going on. Here are three more reasons to hold onto hope…

3) Canadian Cancer Society/Canadian Institutes of Health Research Cancer Survivorship Team Grants

Last summer Jennifer Wilson, director of research operations for the Canadian Cancer Society, asked me to serve with some awesome review panelists to help decide which survivorship team research projects would receive funding. The $10 million competition, CCS/CIHR Cancer Survivorship Team Grants, had the goal of improving health outcomes for cancer survivors. We anticipated that at least four teams would be funded, but then just before the announcement could be made, COVID-19 struck.

Everything changed.

Prior to COVID-19, this $10M competition would have been the largest investment in cancer survivorship research ever made in Canada at one time.

The recipients were announced this month. During the delay brought on by COVID-19, additional partner funds were secured from the Alberta Cancer Foundation and McMaster University, which enabled SIX grants!!

Jennifer Wilson and team worked hard during a global pandemic to make the largest investment in cancer survivorship research even larger! Way to go team! Here is the announcement

  • Fellow panelist Dr. Vicky Forster and I at the Toronto CCS offices Autumn 2019

2) Great news! The US FDA approved SEVEN new lung cancer treatments in May 2020 (during COVID-19)!!

Tabrecta – Capmatinib (METex14)

Retevmo – Selpercatinib (RET)

Opdivo – Nivolumab + Yervoy – Ipilimumab

Tecentriq – Atezolizumab (first line)

Alunbrig – Brigatinib (ALK)

Opdivo – Nivolumab + Yervoy – Ipilimumab + chemo

Ramucirumab – Cyramza + erlotinib – Tarceva (EGFRex19 or ex21)

WOW! WOW!! WOW!!!

What tremendous achievement from multiple teams! Time to celebrate!! #ResearchMatters

1) What a feeling!

This is insignificant in comparison, but I am also thankful because I have feeling in my hands this evening.

Neuropathy (nerve damage / dysfunction) is a common side effect from some cancer treatments. My hands have been generally numb or in significant pain (usually burning, stabbing or electrical) for the past six and a half years of survivorship. I try to keep perspective, since these are side effects of drugs that are keeping me alive.

Tonight I was making biscuits, and as I rubbed my hands together to remove bits of dough, I realised that I could feel the palms of my hands. They felt almost normal, and they still do, a few hours later. Happiness and gratitude! So thankful to be alive six and a half years after diagnosis!! My kids were 6, 10 & 12 at diagnosis, and now they are 13, 17 & 19. That means so much! I’m so glad I get to be here with them. So very grateful!

The costs of survivorship are real. New and improved treatment options mean that (in general) people are living longer and better post diagnosis. Survival rates vary significantly, but about two thirds of people will live at least five years after a cancer diagnosis. This means that over one million Canadians are now living with cancer, and that number is expected to rise dramatically in the next twenty years. (Canadian Cancer Society statistics)

Research matters, to improve both quantity and quality of life.

Research brings hope.

Hold onto hope.

1 Partridge in a Pear Tree

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12 Days of Giving to Lung Cancer Clinical Trials

Clinical trials mean life for people with lung cancer. They not only make a difference for people in the future. Clinical trials extend lives right now. Clinical trials matter!

Hope Matters. We all need hope, especially in hard times. Everyone goes through them, and in the midst of the darkness, hope is an act of defiance.

In Spring 2015, my health was bad. After a year and a half of first chemo then targeted therapy, I was weak and concerned that there might not be any more treatment options for me. My kids were 8, 11 and 14.

We were incredibly thankful for the clinical trial that my oncologist told me about. It brought hope, and I eagerly signed up. I wrote about it at the time, and here in An Act of Defiance, where I told the story of asking my family to plant an apple tree for me for my birthday in the Spring of 2015. The pear tree immediately brought to mind this story of hope.

Apple trees take years to bear fruit. Would I live to see it? Only one way to find out! Fast forward to 2019: we have harvested loads of apples and are very thankful I’m alive to enjoy them. Choose hope!

Hope is an act of defiance! When times are tough we can run low on hope. Hope matters. We need to nurture the hope within us, and when running low on hope, ask for help! #HopeMatters

That clinical trial kept me alive for over a year and a half, long enough for new and better treatment options to become available. I’m on my second treatment line since that clinical trial. I’m alive (and so very thankful) today because of grace and that clinical trial.

Research works. It is working to help give more and more people longer and better survivorship! Lung cancer research matters because people matter.

Four and a half years later I am filled with gratitude for that clinical trial and all who funded it, giving me the gift of extra years of life, such important years that I’ve cherished with my family and friends. My kids are now 12, 16 and 18. We’re incredibly grateful for these years.

Four and a half years later I know from the depth of my being that research matters. Four and a half years later I keep shouting from the rooftops: RESEARCH MATTERS!

I’m raising funds this month, posting these 12 days of giving to lung cancer clinical trials. Please give generously: your gift could mean years of life for someone like me, and what a difference that makes for so many!

To celebrate SiX years of lung cancer survivorship, please give generously to lung cancer research!

Team Jill:  https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/2020-lung-cancer-survivors-super-bowl-challenge/jillhamer-wilson

OR: Team Jill’s Canadian page (for Canadian Income Tax receipts): http://donate.ottawacancer.ca/goto/jill

#12Days of giving to #lungcancer #clinicaltrials #HopeMatters #appletree #peartree #HopeisanActofDefiance #ChooseHope #Hope

Celebrating Life!

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What a lovely Easter! If you follow me on facebook, you may have seen that I had beautiful times with church family and good friends on Sunday. Today I enjoyed a fun walk with my daughter in the morning, then my middle son tuned up my bike and we went cycling together – not super fast nor far, but I enjoyed the wind in my hair and the sun on my face. We went about 7km, which is a little over 4 miles, and it felt good to be out, moving this body and spending time with my son! This evening I let my oldest help with the taxes! 🙂

It was really good to celebrate the resurrection by being with people who I love and who love me, and being active in the beautiful spring weather! So much to be thankful for! So much joy! I can’t tell you how thankful we are for these meds which are holding back the cancer. We hope they will work for a long time!

#MoreResearchMoreSurvivors #ChooseHOPE

#ResearchMatters

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Five years ago I was feeble and fragile, just finished my fifth round of chemotherapy, having coughed for months before diagnosis, still coughing because although chemo helped, it didn’t really help that much. Facebook just reminded me of that time with a photo of some of the many gorgeous flowers that beautiful people sent to us to encourage us, because we all need encouragement, especially when we are travelling rough places in our road.

  • Another gorgeous gift!
  • Gerberas are the happiest flowers!

I could hardly talk, couldn’t do much more than lie on the couch looking at beautiful flowers. I pushed myself hard, not wanting to give up one millimetre to lung cancer, but even so, those were difficult days. Some of my friends are going through hard times like this now. Those were hard days, because no matter how tough I was or how hard I pushed, lung cancer kept pushing harder, and chemo sure wasn’t doing the job.

Thankfully lung cancer research made a difference for me. I’ve been on a series of targeted therapy drugs for almost five years now, and they have been -not without side effects- better than chemotherapy.

I’m alive and well, and now I’m still fighting! I’m not fighting for my life at the moment, but I’m fighting for others, including those who have not yet been diagnosed.

I’m thankful that I’m not fighting alone. Here are a few of my terrific teammates gathered in Atlanta for the AACR Annual Conference:

Lung cancer research has been neglected, and I can’t understand why. New treatments are game changers, so let’s keep going and make a great life and death difference for more people! Let’s find new targeted therapies to work for more of the lung cancer patients. Let’s turn more patients into survivors!

Lung Cancer needs a little more love, and a lot more research money. More research money means more survivors. Look at me! I’m alive and I’m living life! I’m celebrating life every day because every day is a gift to be celebrated!

A bunch of us -lung cancer patients and others- are walking the Ottawa Race Week-end 2K this May 25. Come join us! We’re going to have a great time! We’re getting tee shirts! We’re just getting started! Stay tuned for more details, and sign up to join our team please! We are “Lung Cancer Team Canada”, and we’re raising $$ for Lung Cancer Canada. Here’s the link.

People matter. People with lung cancer matter. Lung Cancer #ResearchMatters . Tell everybody!

#ChooseHope

Ottawa to Atlanta

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I can’t tell you how excited I am to be heading from Ottawa to Atlanta on Friday for the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting. This is a huge conference, with 20,000-30,000 of the top cancer researchers in the world, plus many clinicians and so many others … including me! I’m participating in their “Scientist <–> Survivor Program”, which groups cancer survivor advocates with mentors, both in advocacy and also science. That’s right: we get connected with an expert in cancer advocacy, and also a scientist mentor to help us make the most of this amazing conference! There are so many sessions, but no one can go to them all. I’ve been trying to plan which to attend, and I’m facing scheduling conflicts. So many great options!

I’m thankful they have a conference app to help us figure it all out, because this event is packed with possibilities! If you are curious about what’s happening and who will be presenting, you can browse the sessions and check out abstracts from the comfort of your own home. Here’s a link to investigate the sessions and presentations. Here’s the link to my abstract. And this is the link to donate to the great work that the AACR does, through supporting my 5K walk on Saturday morning.

The app also has maps to help us find places. No getting lost at AACR Annual Meeting 2019! It will even show the path to walk from where one is to where a particular session is taking place. (In case you were wondering, it would take about 15 days to walk from where I am now to the Georgia World Congress Center, home to this preeminent cancer research showcase. I’ll stick to my plan to fly!)

Yes, I am quite excited about this privilege to participate in the AACR Scientist <–> Survivor Program. I feel very honoured that I get to be at the Annual Meeting, and I know I’m representing Canada as well as lung cancer patients, survivors and advocates. I will endeavour to make the most of this opportunity, and I expect I will spend time with exceptional people and learn a lot while I’m there.

I wish I could take all of you with me! Since we can’t all go, I’m going to try to do the next best thing. Here is one of the ways I’m going to step out of my comfort zone while I’m in Atlanta: I’m planning to post videos on YouTube of my time there.

Here’s a link to my first one! I hope you’ll follow my adventure in Atlanta on YouTube!

Choose HOPE! Inspire courage. Incite hope. Foment communities of hope.

#AACR19 #AACRSSP19