The number of Canadians living with and surviving cancer has reached 1.5 million, according to new data that reveals that the number of people in Canada with cancer is increasing.
The data, released Tuesday by the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS), contains cancer prevalence figures looking back over the last 25 years — the first of its kind in Canada to provide this kind of long-term prevalence snapshot.
A decade ago, it was estimated that one million Canadians were living with the disease, but Canada’s aging and growing population as well as advances in medicine and research helping more people to be diagnosed and survive has resulted in higher prevalence of cancer in Canada, according to the report.
That is both good and bad news when it comes to cancer occurrences in Canada, says Dr. Janet Dancey, a medical oncologist and director of the Canadian Cancer Trials Group.
“The fact is that as we live longer and longer, the chances of having cancer appear to go up, despite our best efforts and despite our best understanding,” she said.
“We also have many effective treatments, and that is actually how this particular publication, with its information on prevalence, can actually help highlight how many people live well beyond their cancer diagnosis. And I think it’s actually a very hopeful message.”
The report was developed by the Canadian Cancer Statistics Advisory Committee in collaboration with CCS, Statistics Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada.
Dancey says it will help provide an important look at trends in cancer occurrences over a long period of time that show how well the country is doing when it comes to preventing, detecting and treating this disease and how well people with cancer are doing over time.
For example, the report found that 60 per cent of the 1.5 million people living in Canada who have been diagnosed with cancer in the last 25 years were diagnosed between five and 25 years ago.
This means a high number of people are living long-term after a cancer diagnosis, says Jennifer Gillis, senior manager of surveillance for the Canadian Cancer Society.
“This really highlights not only the improvements in survival, but also cancer’s long-term toll on our health-care system and the need to advance research to improve prevention, but also quality of life for people who have been diagnosed with cancer.”
For Harjeet Kaur, the disease started as persistent fevers that wouldn’t go away.
It was the spring of 2019, and the then-32-year-old had only recently emigrated to Canada from India and was otherwise healthy and looking forward to building a life in a new country with her husband.
Harjeet Kaur.
Submitted photo
But after many weeks of fevers, Kaur knew something wasn’t right. She started experiencing extreme chills and unexplained swelling in different parts of her body and then blacked out one day in her bathroom.
It took numerous visits to her family physician and countless hours in hospital emergency rooms — where she was repeatedly told it was probably just a virus or infection that would run its course — until finally she was admitted to a hospital in Edmonton for testing.
Two months and many scopes and scans later, she finally got the diagnosis: Kaur had a very rare type of blood cancer that had already progressed to Stage 4. And she was told she needed to start chemotherapy immediately.
“Honestly, I never thought that it would be the word ‘big C.’ I thought it might be some kind of infection or something, but I never thought that it would be cancer, Stage 4,” she said.
Her husband, brother and mother were equally incredulous.
“We still could not get that thing in our mind that, OK, is it seriously cancer? Because until now we could not diagnose anything and now all of a sudden it’s Stage 4.”
The diagnosis was only the beginning of the nightmare Kaur was to endure.
A side effect of her treatment caused her to permanently lose sight in one eye, and she also developed an autoimmune disease, which complicated her treatment.
A side effect of Harjeet Kaur’s cancer treatment caused her to permanently lose sight in one eye.
Submitted photo.
Eventually, she had to get a stem-cell transplant, which carries a significant risk of serious complications, including a 15 per cent chance she would not survive.
COVID-19 lockdowns further complicated her treatment and meant she had to isolate in the hospital alone for 32 days while undergoing treatments that were so painful, Kaur says she couldn’t speak.
“I was not sure if I would come back,” she said.
“The only thing which kept me going was my family and my friends and the strength that I input in myself after all this — that I need to get out of this. I need to go back to my family. I need to get up. I need to do this. But it took a lot from me.”
It has been a long road to recovery that Kaur says she is still on, but a recent scan showed no evidence of disease. However, she is still living with the aftermath of the disease and the treatments, including early menopause and her lost eyesight.
Kaur now wants to be a voice for other cancer patients and to let them know it’s important to advocate for themselves through their cancer journeys.
Submitted photo.
But she now wants to be a voice for other cancer patients and to let them know it’s important to advocate for themselves through their cancer journeys.
Tuesday’s cancer statistics report shows Kaur’s survival story is more common among the one in 24 Canadians now living with cancer. But it also highlights how the COVID-19 pandemic and Canada’s stretched health-care system is having significant impacts on cancer patients, which shows the need for more investments in health care in Canada, Gillis said.
Without more support, Canada’s health system will be under-resourced to keep up with the growing number of Canadians impacted by cancer, she said.
“That’s why the Canadian Cancer Society actually is advocating for all levels of government to work together to come and help create a health-care system that is resilient and can meet the evolving needs of people throughout their cancer experience,” Gillis said.
“There are many different ways that individuals go through their cancer experience. So, these results and the findings of this report can help us start to understand who may need these supportive services throughout their cancer journey.”
NEW GLASGOW, N.S. – Police in New Glasgow, N.S., say a 44-year-old woman faces fraud charges after funds went missing from the Pictou East Progressive Conservative Association.
New Glasgow Regional Police began the investigation on Oct. 7, after Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston reported that an undisclosed amount of money had gone missing from his riding association’s account.
Police allege that a volunteer who was acting as treasurer had withdrawn funds from the association’s account between 2016 and 2024.
The force says it arrested Tara Amanda Cohoon at her Pictou County, N.S., residence on Oct. 11.
They say investigators seized mobile electronic devices, bank records and cash during a search of the home.
Cohoon has since been released and is to appear in Pictou provincial court on Dec. 2 to face charges of forgery, uttering a forged document, theft over $5,000 and fraud over $5,000.
Police say their investigation remains ongoing.
Houston revealed the investigation to reporters on Oct. 9, saying he felt an “incredible level of betrayal” over the matter.
The premier also said a volunteer he had known for many years had been dismissed from the association and the party.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
PICTOU, N.S. – A Nova Scotia excavation company has been fined $80,000 after a worker died when scaffolding collapsed on one of its job sites.
In a decision released Wednesday, a Nova Scotia provincial court judge in Pictou, N.S., found the failure by Blaine MacLane Excavation Ltd. to ensure scaffolding was properly installed led to the 2020 death of Jeff MacDonald, a self-employed electrician.
The sentence was delivered after the excavation company was earlier found guilty of an infraction under the province’s Occupational Health and Safety Act.
Judge Bryna Hatt said in her decision she found the company “failed in its duty” to ensure that pins essential to the scaffolding’s stability were present at the work site.
Her decision said MacDonald was near the top of the structure when it collapsed on Dec. 9, 2020, though the exact height is unknown.
The judge said that though the excavation company did not own the scaffolding present on its job site, there was no evidence the company took steps to prevent injury, which is required under legislation.
MacDonald’s widow testified during the trial that she found her husband’s body at the job site after he didn’t pick up their children as planned and she couldn’t get in touch with him over the phone.
Julie MacDonald described in her testimony how she knew her husband had died upon finding him due to her nursing training, and that she waited alone in the dark for emergency responders to arrive after calling for help.
“My words cannot express how tragic this accident was for her, the children, and their extended family,” Hatt wrote in the sentencing decision.
“No financial penalty will undo the damage and harm that has been done, or adequately represent the loss of Mr. MacDonald to his family, friends, and our community.”
In addition to the $80,000 fine, the New Glasgow-based company must also pay a victim-fine surcharge of $12,000 and provide $8,000 worth of community service to non-profits in Pictou County.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – Investigators found the remains of a 77-year-old American man on Wednesday at the scene of a fire that destroyed a hotel in western Newfoundland on the weekend.
Eugene Earl Spoon, a guest at the hotel, was visiting Newfoundland from Kansas. His remains were found Wednesday morning during a search of the debris left behind after the fire tore through the Driftwood Inn in Deer Lake, N.L., on Saturday, the RCMP said in a news release.
“RCMP (Newfoundland and Labrador) extends condolences to the family and friends of the missing man,” the news release said.
Spoon was last seen Friday evening in the community of about 4,800 people in western Newfoundland. The fire broke out early Saturday morning, the day Spoon was reported missing.
Several crews from the area fought the flames for about 16 hours before the final hot spot was put out, and police said Wednesday that investigators are still going through the debris.
Meanwhile, the provincial Progressive Conservative Opposition reiterated its call for a wider review of what happened.
“Serious questions have been raised about the fire, and the people deserve answers,” Tony Wakeham, the party’s leader, said in a news release Wednesday. “A thorough investigation must be conducted to determine the cause and prevent such tragedies in the future.”
The party has said it spoke to people who escaped the burning hotel, and they said alarm and sprinkler systems did not seem to have been activated during the fire. However, Stephen Rowsell, the Deer Lake fire chief, has said there were alarms going off when crews first arrived.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 23, 2024.
