My name is Cheryl and I was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma in 2022. Often our stories begin at diagnosis, but mine began a few years earlier. I am a physiotherapist and through my work I have learned that life and health are not to be taken for granted. One evening my husband and I (and a bottle of tequila!) decided we should make the most out of life and we made a big decision: we were going to go and sail the world. Fast forward to 2018 and we had sold our home, most of our belongings and had set sail, pointing south towards the Caribbean.
Life was at its peak! We were living on a boat, travelling from country to country, and having an adventure of a lifetime, which turned out to be much more adventurous than we had anticipated! Covid hit while we were down there, and turned us into “honorary” residents of the Grenada where we were now living out the pandemic. Grenada ended up being a wonderful place to “get stuck in” though, and we felt lucky every day for the opportunity to get to know locals and visit stunning places without tourists. Restrictions however eventually lifted and we (and our bank account) made the decision it was finally time to begin our long journey home back to Canada.
We left Grenada in September of 2021 and made it to Guadeloupe by Christmas, however this was a struggle due to back pain I was experiencing. Now as I mentioned, I am a physiotherapist, and a decent one I thought, but this back pain was relentless. Nothing I did, nor taught my husband to do could get control of the pain. I even considered teaching him acupuncture while floating on a boat, in a foreign country, I was that desperate! Guadeloupe, unfortunately, was dealing with conflict and riots within their medical system, so between that and the fact that we didn’t speak French, we knew this was not the place to get help.
It’s funny, but there was something in my gut that told me I had one move left in me. I could either sail to north to Antigua or fly home to Canada. I was all set to sail to Antigua when my husband said “no, Cheryl, you should fly home to Canada”. Well, spoiler alert, he was right! I flew home on New Years Eve and within 2 weeks of landing my back pain progressed into numbness from my armpits down. It took only about 2 hours in the Emergency Department before I was in an MRI machine and they found a tumour on my spine which had begun to press against my spinal cord. As we know, sarcomas can be aggressive, and over the course of 10 days as I waited for my biopsy results, my numbness progressed into partial paralysis. By the time I met my wonderful oncologist, I needed a wheelchair to get to my first round of emergency chemotherapy.
To this day, I still reflect on how differently things could have turned out. If I’d been in the wrong country and the pandemic was at its peak and flights home were unavailable, I truly believe I would not be here today writing this story. As we know cancer treatment sucks. But throughout my treatment I couldn’t shake the immense amount of gratitude I felt. Gratitude for the healthcare available to us in Canada and the amazing healthcare team I was set up with at Princess Margaret Hospital. I was also grateful for the years I had in the Caribbean, unbeknownst of what was coming. And gratitude for our support network. Not only did our friends and family help us remake a home here in Canada, but they also helped us rescue our boat, which we had abandoned in the Caribbean when we got my diagnosis.
I am incredibly proud to share that I am writing this story to you from my boat! Through the hard work of many healthcare professionals and myself, I have made a full recovery. I’ve been in remission for two years and am not only walking again but also sailing once more. There were so many times when I was in the thick of chemo, radiation and spinal cord recovery where I couldn’t see this life for myself again, so I am here to share that it is possible. It’s not exactly the same as what it was, but nor should it. I believe that life moves forwards, and our story builds as we go.
