Matthew McKinnon knew something was wrong when he went to catch a football during his high school practice in Surrey B.C., in the spring of 2012 and completely missed it.
McKinnon, 28, who was in Grade 11 at the time, said he was experiencing double vision, nausea and headaches. Following that practice, his parents took him to the family doctor where he was prescribed anti-nausea medication that was usually only given to cancer patients.
“It was a foreshadowing of things to come,” McKinnon told Global News.
Even with medication and a chiropractor’s visit, his health declined rapidly over the next few days.
1:39 Lethbridge man battling brain cancer hosting concert to raise funds for research
“Finally, my parents decided that we should go in for a CT scan where I was misdiagnosed with something called sinusitis, [and was] sent home with medication. And over that weekend I had what we could only describe as seizures, and my parents decided to take me back in,” he said.
It was then that a CT scan found a tumour in his brain, and he was immediately taken to BC Children’s Hospital and had emergency brain surgery.
“And then five days later, on Father’s Day, I had my second brain surgery,” he said.
The ‘dark’ days that followed
Often, when someone receives a cancer diagnosis, they find themselves navigating the sickness alone, emotionally and physically, explained Carly Fleming, a registered psychotherapist based in Hamilton, Ont.
“Just the word cancer is laden with so much fear, and very often there can be hopelessness,” she said, adding this may be more convoluted when young people are diagnosed with the disease.
“You’ve got this confluence of practical things to solve with this deep emotional issue. And now you have a developmental issue. So depending on your age, there are still developmental milestones coming, your brain isn’t fully developed yet, your relationships aren’t fully developed yet,” she said.
“The depths of that is it’s even deeper than it is when it’s an adult who gets a diagnosis.”
Matthew McKinnon in the hospital following his brain cancer diagnosis.
Matthew McKinnon
After a cancer diagnosis, Flemming said many young adults and children might struggle more with maintaining friendships, coping with losses, and facing the potential loss of fertility.
And this is where McKinnon said he found himself following his diagnosis in high school.
After his surgeries, he spent around three weeks in recovery at the hospital before he was able to go home. During that time, he said, a team of doctors gave him a treatment plan of 30 sessions of radiation to his head and spine, as well as six rounds of chemotherapy. This regimen persisted until midway through his Grade 12 year.
During this time, McKinnon said he began to experience life-changing effects of treatment including a permanent doubling of his vision and severe mental health challenges.
The doctors performing surgery on McKinnon.
Matthew McKinnon
“I had plans to go [to school] for civil engineering, and I had hopes of playing soccer with a team I’d been with since I was five years old. And all of those things immediately got thrown up in the air,” he said.
“Itwas disruptive and challenging. Those dark times were very, very challenging. It was the hopelessness, the depression and anxiety focused around my cancer.”
Although his treatment ended in January 2013, McKinnon said his cancer journey didn’t end there. For example, he was told by a social worker that because of the high levels of radiation he went through, there was a chance that he would be infertile.
This is one of the struggles that young cancer patients have to face, Fleming said.
0:34 Anxiety and depression directly impact how long a cancer patient will survive
As a psychotherapist who works with cancer patients, she finds that a lot of people focus on the “practical survival” of getting through the treatments. And once that ends, then comes the need to look back and try and dissect the trauma and emotional weight that comes with cancer.
“Even in the best of circumstances, your life looks different now,” she said. “You’ve changed, you’re no longer the person you were pre-cancer. How you travel through the world can look really different.”
But there is hope and progress, thanks to improved treatments and therapies. McKinnon credits the improved research and treatments in the cancer sphere for saving his life.
“When I was diagnosed in 2012, it was a 90-per cent success,” he said. “Had I been diagnosed only 10 years before in 2002, it would have been a terminal diagnosis. So for myself, it’s that research that took place in just those 10 years that allowed me to still be here.”
McKinnon, who is now cancer-free, acknowledged the invaluable support of his family during his treatment, as well as the assistance provided by the Canadian Cancer Society. Through their programs, he said found solace and companionship among others sharing similar experiences.
Matthew McKinnon and his wife Danica.
Matthew McKinnon
He also credited the cancer diagnosis for giving him the gift of resilience.
“I want others to know that the suffering that they go through, it’s difficult, and it’s hard and it’s real, and that there is a lot of possibility to come from that. And to lean on the individuals in their lives and to recognize sometimes we can’t see the good that might come from a hard situation,” he said.
His cancer diagnosis led him to Ottawa where he met his wife. And despite being told he may not be able to have kids, he has a two-year-old son named James.
“There is good to come. My wife Danica and I have been married for nearly three years now. We met through church here in Ottawa. And she’s definitely one of the biggest joys and lights in my life, as well as our son James,” he said.
When someone is struggling with cancer, Fleming stresses the normalcy of feeling depressed or anxious.
Matthew McKinnon, his wife Danica and their son James.
Matthew McKinnon
And while some people may not have the support of family or friends, some therapists have training experience who can help, she said.
“I am one of those therapists. I work with many of them, and it can be an incredible place to find support,” she said.
“Nobody goes through cancer without significant emotional distress. Nobody does. And so it isn’t that there’s something broken when a person is struggling emotionally. It isn’t that there’s some kind of a big problem. It is entirely the norm.”
The Canadian government says it will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses to fight the mpox outbreak in Congo and other African countries.
It says the donated doses of Imvamune will come from Canada’s existing supply and will not affect the country’s preparedness for mpox cases in this country.
Minister of Health Mark Holland says the donation “will help to protect those in the most affected regions of Africa and will help prevent further spread of the virus.”
Dr. Madhukar Pai, Canada research chair in epidemiology and global health, says although the donation is welcome, it is a very small portion of the estimated 10 million vaccine doses needed to control the outbreak.
Vaccine donations from wealthier countries have only recently started arriving in Africa, almost a month after the World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.
A few days after the declaration in August, Global Affairs Canada announced a contribution of $1 million for mpox surveillance, diagnostic tools, research and community awareness in Africa.
On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said mpox is still on the rise and that testing rates are “insufficient” across the continent.
Jason Kindrachuk, Canada research chair in emerging viruses at the University of Manitoba, said donating vaccines, in addition to supporting surveillance and diagnostic tests, is “massively important.”
But Kindrachuk, who has worked on the ground in Congo during the epidemic, also said that the international response to the mpox outbreak is “better late than never (but) better never late.”
“It would have been fantastic for us globally to not be in this position by having provided doses a much, much longer time prior than when we are,” he said, noting that the outbreak of clade I mpox in Congo started in early 2023.
Clade II mpox, endemic in regions of West Africa, came to the world’s attention even earlier — in 2022 — as that strain of virus spread to other countries, including Canada.
Two doses are recommended for mpox vaccination, so the donation may only benefit 100,000 people, Pai said.
Pai questioned whether Canada is contributing enough, as the federal government hasn’t said what percentage of its mpox vaccine stockpile it is donating.
“Small donations are simply not going to help end this crisis. We need to show greater solidarity and support,” he said in an email.
“That is the biggest lesson from the COVID-19 pandemic — our collective safety is tied with that of other nations.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Canadian Press health coverage receives support through a partnership with the Canadian Medical Association. CP is solely responsible for this content.
HALIFAX – The Nova Scotia government says it could be months before it reveals how many people are on the wait-list for a family doctor.
The head of the province’s health authority told reporters Wednesday that the government won’t release updated data until the 160,000 people who were on the wait-list in June are contacted to verify whether they still need primary care.
Karen Oldfield said Nova Scotia Health is working on validating the primary care wait-list data before posting new numbers, and that work may take a matter of months. The most recent public wait-list figures are from June 1, when 160,234 people, or about 16 per cent of the population, were on it.
“It’s going to take time to make 160,000 calls,” Oldfield said. “We are not talking weeks, we are talking months.”
The interim CEO and president of Nova Scotia Health said people on the list are being asked where they live, whether they still need a family doctor, and to give an update on their health.
A spokesperson with the province’s Health Department says the government and its health authority are “working hard” to turn the wait-list registry into a useful tool, adding that the data will be shared once it is validated.
Nova Scotia’s NDP are calling on Premier Tim Houston to immediately release statistics on how many people are looking for a family doctor. On Tuesday, the NDP introduced a bill that would require the health minister to make the number public every month.
“It is unacceptable for the list to be more than three months out of date,” NDP Leader Claudia Chender said Tuesday.
Chender said releasing this data regularly is vital so Nova Scotians can track the government’s progress on its main 2021 campaign promise: fixing health care.
The number of people in need of a family doctor has more than doubled between the 2021 summer election campaign and June 2024. Since September 2021 about 300 doctors have been added to the provincial health system, the Health Department said.
“We’ll know if Tim Houston is keeping his 2021 election promise to fix health care when Nova Scotians are attached to primary care,” Chender said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Newfoundland and Labrador‘s chief medical officer is monitoring the rise of whooping cough infections across the province as cases of the highly contagious disease continue to grow across Canada.
Dr. Janice Fitzgerald says that so far this year, the province has recorded 230 confirmed cases of the vaccine-preventable respiratory tract infection, also known as pertussis.
Late last month, Quebec reported more than 11,000 cases during the same time period, while Ontario counted 470 cases, well above the five-year average of 98. In Quebec, the majority of patients are between the ages of 10 and 14.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick has declared a whooping cough outbreak across the province. A total of 141 cases were reported by last month, exceeding the five-year average of 34.
The disease can lead to severe complications among vulnerable populations including infants, who are at the highest risk of suffering from complications like pneumonia and seizures. Symptoms may start with a runny nose, mild fever and cough, then progress to severe coughing accompanied by a distinctive “whooping” sound during inhalation.
“The public, especially pregnant people and those in close contact with infants, are encouraged to be aware of symptoms related to pertussis and to ensure vaccinations are up to date,” Newfoundland and Labrador’s Health Department said in a statement.
Whooping cough can be treated with antibiotics, but vaccination is the most effective way to control the spread of the disease. As a result, the province has expanded immunization efforts this school year. While booster doses are already offered in Grade 9, the vaccine is now being offered to Grade 8 students as well.
Public health officials say whooping cough is a cyclical disease that increases every two to five or six years.
Meanwhile, New Brunswick’s acting chief medical officer of health expects the current case count to get worse before tapering off.
A rise in whooping cough cases has also been reported in the United States and elsewhere. The Pan American Health Organization issued an alert in July encouraging countries to ramp up their surveillance and vaccination coverage.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
