how a parent’s cancer diagnosis can change your life
“you tend to think your parents are going to live forever”
jan 7 2020
2 minute read
j.p. moczulski for postmedia news
sponsored by
a member of innovative medicines canada
this story was created by content works, postmedia’s commercial content division, on behalf of a client.
by: abigail cukier – postmedia content works
nishi aubin says it felt like a body blow. and then it happened again. and then twice more.
four times, the 42-year-old toronto resident has been told one of her parents has cancer. first, her dad, henry aubin, was diagnosed with colon cancer. ten years later, her mom, penny, found out she had breast cancer. then, her mom had a hysterectomy to remove a tumour from her ovaries and her dad was diagnosed with bladder cancer.
“it’s very scary. you tend to think your parents are going to live forever,” says aubin, who is in event management at a financial institution. “as constant as the sun rises and sets, you think they will always be there. each time they have gotten sick, it has been a brutal reminder.”
aubin says because her parents live in montreal, it has been hard to cede control to doctors and nurses, as well as to her little sister, who lives closest to them.
“it’s difficult to be far away and to have to rely on other people to make decisions and recommendations. it can be incredibly overwhelming,” she says. “but my parents’ neighbours and friends, doctors and nurses have all been amazing. and my parents have lived in the same house since the mid-70s, so they have a community of people who have been so kind and gracious.”
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before their diagnosis, henry and penny were both busy and exercised every day. when she got sick, penny felt especially fatigued and eventually took a leave of absence from work. but, thanks to access to cancer treatments that weren’t available a few decades ago, she recovered — and went right back to work as soon as she got the ok from her doctor.
penny, now 75, is semi-retired, but still works as a librarian at mcgill university. henry, 75, is retired from a journalism career that included 40 years at the montreal gazette. married for almost 50 years, with four grown children, aubin describes them as true partners — and says it is innovative cancer treatments that have given them this chance to grow old together.
“i believe 100 per cent that pharmaceutical companies permit canadians to live longer, healthier and better lives,” she says. “it’s long and arduous, and successes are few and far between, but they keep working to develop breakthroughs.
“canadians and the health care system benefit greatly from their contributions. especially when government funding is sometimes limited. and often, it is a combination of private and public partnerships that are creating breakthroughs.”
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thanks to these breakthroughs, penny and henry are enjoying their return to health. “they travel and they have fun,” aubin says. “they work, read, research. they have a huge desk and one of them sits at each end with the cats in the middle. they’re really enjoying this chapter — and they have earned this chapter, which is why i want them to be healthy.”
this story was created by content works, postmedia’s commercial content division, on behalf of innovative medicines canada (imc) and an imc member company.
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