Five years after she was initially diagnosed with Stage 3 lobular breast cancer, 39-year-old Mercedes Buhagiar thought she was in the clear when the cancer went into remission.
She had completed chemotherapy, underwent three surgeries and received radiation treatment.
“I had graduated from the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre. I was living my life. Everything was great,” she said.
But after experiencing severe neck pains last year, scans showed a “destructive mass” in her spine. A further investigation revealed the breast cancer had returned and metastatised to her bones.
There is a renewed focus on cancer’s ability to affect seemingly young and healthy people around the world following the unexpected announcement that the Princess of Wales, Catherine “Kate” Middleton, is undergoing chemotherapy.
It’s not clear what type of cancer Middleton has or what stage it is in.
In a video announcement Friday, Middleton, 42, said the diagnosis came as a “huge shock.” That’s exactly how Buhagiar, who is three years younger, said she felt upon learning of her second diagnosis.
After experiencing some neck pain in Jan. 2023, a physiotherapist brought her some relief. But in July that year, Buhagiar started feeling pressure in the center of her back whenever she ran longer than five minutes.
She underwent bone scans in Oct. 2023 but doctors could not see the results until Feb. 2024 because of the cyberattack on area hospitals.
“I work out every day. I eat properly. I take care of myself. I did everything that I was supposed to do and it still came back,” said Buhagiar.
Buhagiar, whose cancer is in Stage 4, said her BRCA gene test — which looks for a specific set of genes associated with an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer — came back negative.
“There’s nothing I could possibly do better to not get cancer,” she said. “My aunt passed away from breast cancer which had metastasized to different parts in her body when she was 54. But, again, I don’t have the gene so there’s no reason why I should have cancer.”
Images of Mercedes Buhagiar’s bone scans which showed the breast cancer had metastasized to her bones. (Source: Mercedes Buhagiar)
According to Ontario Health data, the cancer incident rate (per 100,000 people) in the Erie St. Clair health network increased by 589.4 in 2019 to 598.6 in 2023.
Erie St. Clair’s cancer incident rate is the second-highest in Ontario, provincial data shows.
“Throughout the pandemic, accessing primary care went down across the board. Across the healthcare continuum, we see that’s resulted in much later detections of more serious problems, with cancer screening being one of the top among those,” said Windsor Regional Hospital’s regional vice president of cancer services Jonathan Foster.
When asked exactly what’s causing higher rates of cancer, Foster said it’s a very “complex and systemic” question. He pointed to changes in different environmental factors and “people’s health patterns.”
There are also those individuals who have cancer but live a healthy lifestyle.
According to Buhagiar, there was a 10-month delay in her first breast cancer diagnosis in 2016. She had a lump in her breast but her doctor at the time passed it off as “dense breast tissue” which would go away once she had children.
Her initial diagnosis only came after she broke her big toe while trying to move furniture, she added.
“I ended up going back to my doctor and saying, ‘Listen, this is weird that I have this lump in my breast and now my big toe is not healing after six to eight weeks,” said Buhagiar, adding her doctor determined her toe wasn’t healing because her immune system was trying to tackle breast cancer that was later detected.
“So even though there was a lump, it was overlooked because I was young. I was just 31 years old so it couldn’t be breast cancer. Turns out that was wrong.”
Foster said this example proves how important it is for people to know how to advocate for themselves, even if they feel their doctor may not take their symptoms seriously.
“Health care is a partnership between yourself as a person and whoever your health care provider is. Arming yourself with knowledge going into those conversations is so important,” said Foster.
“Screening can detect asymptomatic cancer starts which really don’t have much impact on the person yet. People often think it won’t happen to them because they’re in great health but we know cancer doesn’t work that way.”
As for Buhagiar, she is getting ready to be transferred to Toronto to undergo specialized cancer treatment. For now, she’s facing the reality of having to go back to the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre after previously graduating.
“The hardest part is seeing so many young faces getting rediagnosed. I don’t know what’s happening in our environment or what’s happening that so many young people are having to deal with cancer,” said Buhagiar.
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.
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