Almost 180,000 Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and while the detection rate of new cancers has not fallen, more and more Canadians are surviving the disease.
An overall decline in mortality rates was reported in the 2011 edition of Canadian Cancer Statistics, the annual publication produced by Statistics Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society.
Squamish-born Melanie Stroh is one of the survivors behind the statistics, and she wants victims of cancer to know they're not alone.
"Part of the reason the numbers are so good is because of the research money that's been poured into it," said Stroh, a teacher who was diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago at the age of 39, and is today considered cancer-free at 45.
For the past five years she's been participating in Canada's largest annual fundraising event for cancer research, the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life, which raised more than $54 million in 2010.
"It's a big deal for me," she said. "It's fading a little - it's been six years now, so it's a way to look back on something that's been a huge part of who I am.
"I'm a different person because I had cancer and that lets me kind of acknowledge that and even have the opportunity to talk about it."
When Stroh first discovered she had breast cancer, she said her first reaction was to feel "somewhat overwhelmed" but a close neighbour had been diagnosed just months earlier, which reduced the impact of the news of her own diagnosis.
"I knew not very much about cancer but enough to know that breast cancer is a pretty survivable one," she said. "There would be other diagnosis that would be a whole lot scarier to hear."
Stroh's treatment, described by her doctor as a "snowball," happened quickly over the course of eight months beginning with surgery within two weeks of diagnosis, then chemotherapy within a month, followed by radiation.
The ordeal only reinforced emotional bonds with family and friends , who displayed tremendous support during her time of need.
"I like a quote, that 'cancer is like a gift wrapped in barbed wire,'" Stroh said. "So it's awful and yet it makes you realize things about yourself and about the people around you that maybe you wouldn't have realized before, like my friends who cooked meals for my family when I was too sick to look at food let alone eat it."
She credits the Canadian Cancer Society for connecting her with a survivor who had the same kind of cancer, who came to her house to talk with her about what she might expect. Stroh has since been able to repay the gesture to other cancer victims in the Squamish area.
"In terms of technically surviving breast cancer, they say five years is when your risk goes back to the same as any other woman," she said. "So for me, I'm now considered cancer-free in that sense."
"I remember the year that I was diagnosed was actually the first year that the relay was in Squamish and I remember seeing the posters up around town and I couldn't even look twice at them because I didn't want to be part of that club. It was like this club that you didn't want to be in."
She changed her mind after her work colleagues, in a show of support, put together a team the following year. Touched by their gesture, she decided to check it out.
"I found that it was amazing to be around people who were supporting you that didn't have cancer, like the teams," she said. "And it was hugely supportive because it can be really lonely, I guess, having cancer."
Each year, in communities across Canada, teams of 10 to 15 people take turns walking, running or wheeling around a track as part of the 12-hour non-competitive overnight relay.
All cancer survivors - the relay's honourary guests - are invited to participate in the first lap, known as the Survivor's Victory Lap.
The 2011 Squamish Relay for Life will kick off at Brennan Park on June 24 at 7 p.m. Cancer survivors wanting to participate in the Victory Lap are encouraged to attend the Survivors and Caregivers Celebration reception starting at 6 p.m. to receive a commemorative Survivors T-shirt and pin before the opening ceremonies. A free catered dinner for survivors will be provided following the Victory Lap.
To register online for the Survivors' Victory Lap, or for more information, go to www.cancer.ca and follow the Relay for Life prompts.
