Blog
Barbara’s Story: With their future uncertain, Barbara and partner Martin hold out hope for a lung transplant
Barbara and Martin met five years ago as most people do these days – online. One coffee date and the two knew it was a match. Each had already lived a lifetime of challenge, struggle, and loss, often putting their own lives on hold to support a loved one. Together, they planned to live out their retirement years doing the things that they love. Barbara’s slight cough and a monitor attached to her
Darcy’s Story: At age 54 I was diagnosed with IPF, and would need a lung transplant to survive
Darcy Murdoch has played many roles in his life as an entertainer. An average encounter finds him effortlessly riffling between two of his alter egos, crooner Bobby Bacchus, and the King himself, Elvis Presley. But no role has challenged him more than that of patient. Years of long days and late nights working in the catering business, rich meals at odd hours and constant heavy lifting were
Janet’s story: Six years ago I was diagnosed with lung cancer
Six years ago I was diagnosed with lung cancer. I had most of my left lung and lymph nodes removed in my first surgery and tumours removed from my right lung in a second surgery three months later. I’ve never smoked. Finding out I had lung cancer was a huge shock for me. Like many people, I thought only people who smoked got lung cancer. But that’s not the case. Indoor radon exposure is the
My Experience With Lung Cancer – Part 6: When things are hard
March 6, 2015: The last month has been the hardest so far. The cancer progressed despite the new treatment, and that led to a fracture of my spine with back pain that kept me in bed for weeks. I had surgery to stabilize the back two weeks ago and finally feel that I am starting to get some strength and mobility back. And I will be starting a new chemotherapy today. It has been almost impossible to
Tina’s Journey with pulmonary hypertension
As a 21 year old woman attending college in Toronto, it was very difficult for me to imagine that an illness could possibly hit me at this stage in my life, but it did. I slowly started to notice that my daily walk to school was actually getting more difficult to do and not easier, which struck me as being odd. So I brought up my concerns with my family doctor. A misdiagnosis of a mild case of
Moving research discoveries from the lab to patients, looking for cures for preemie babies with breathing difficulties
Dr. Bernard Thébaud still remembers the time when he told a mother that her premature baby was dying from a lung disease and she asked: “Isn’t there anything you can do for my baby now?” “That’s when I realized that I needed to move research findings quicker from the labs into treatments for patients,” recalls Dr. Thébaud, a neonatologist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario and a senior
Keep your lungs healthy this holiday season: how to avoid potential triggers
‘Tis the season to be jolly…but if you have a long-term breathing disease like asthma or COPD, ‘tis the season to be on guard, too. Research shows that people with asthma and COPD are more likely to be hospitalized during the Christmas holiday period. The main reason – people pick up colds and other germs at social events, and these viruses trigger flare-ups. Scented candles and mould found on
My Experience With Lung Cancer – Part 5: Lung Cancer Awareness
I haven’t written a blog since the summer. I am not sure why – I think it is because I wasn’t sure what else I could say that would be helpful or interesting. The summer was difficult. I had several complications from the cancer – phlebitis, pneumonia, pneumonitis – and they all took a long time to resolve. But the most difficult event was learning at the end of July that the cancer was continuing
My Experience With Lung Cancer – Part 4: What can be next??
I finished the previous blog two weeks ago, after having radiotherapy to the lesions in my brain, and feeling pretty positive again. And while trying to ignore the swelling in my left leg. It couldn’t be ignored for very long, and by that afternoon I was diagnosed with another complication of cancer, a deep vein thrombosis. This is a blood clot that forms in the deeper, inside veins of the leg and
My Experience With Lung Cancer – Part 3: A Lousy Week
[In Part 1 , Terry described her diagnosis and initial treatment. In Part 2 , she discussed the stigma of lung cancer.] I wrote my last section about a week ago, when I was feeling a lot better – it is easier to be positive in those circumstances. This past week has been really tough – I had a routinely scheduled MRI of my brain on Monday, and learned that, despite the treatment, there are several