I wanted to share the story of Ann, a close friend of 35 years, and the journey that she is on.

Ann joined the military in May of 1994 and was in service until March of 2009. 15 years of full-time service representing Canada. Ann was one of the 7,000 military personnel in Winnipeg during the 1997 Flood of the Century. She was part of Operation Recuperation during the Quebec Ice Storm of 1998. In 1999, Ann was a member of the first team in Kosovo; Roto 0 Plus. Her tour of Afghanistan was in 2004 with Operation Drawdown. 

During her time in the Military, Ann injured both her knees along with acquiring back and hip problems.  She has had one knee completely replaced with the second needing replacing soon. Along with her physical injuries, Ann suffers from PTSD. She is fortunate to have an amazing service dog.  Zeke helps her both psychiatrically and with her mobility issues. He helps ground her in times of stress and anxiety.

During her stint in the Military, Ann had regular mammograms.  After her release in 2009, her next mammograms were in 2014, 2016, 2018 and then a jump all the way to August 2023 and September 2023 for a recall. Her cancer diagnosis was given to her in September 2023. The cancer had already spread to the nodes and had split into 2 different cancers. That one type of cancer would have been a death sentence if it had not been caught when it did.  If it had been caught earlier, it would have not had the chance to spread into her nodes and would have a better prognosis.

In November of 2023, she had a double mastectomy. Ann’s body reacts severely to the aggressive treatment which began in February 2024. Ann was admitted for a week-long stay in hospital and learns that the medication was too aggressive for her body to handle and had developed acute colitis.

After a three-week break, giving her body time to heal, she started on a different regime of chemo treatments. Her body reacted better to this medication, but she still had to forgo the last 4 treatments as her body was struggling. After a 2-week break, she started radiation treatments. Radiation was 5 days a week for 3 weeks. As her hometown of Renfrew, ON did not have the facilities to perform these treatments, Ann had to drive approximately 3 hours daily for her return trip to Ottawa to get her radiation treatments. Next week (June 2024) she will start another chemo drug. This medication is to be taken for 2 years, providing her body is strong enough. She will have to take hormone pills for the rest of her life. Ann is 56.

What she wants your takeaway from her journey to be is to get a mammogram, stay up to date with your mammograms. Press your doctor to send you for a mammogram, particularly if you have family history.  You need a baseline for comparison purposes (year by year). Do self breast exams and notify your doctor of any changes. The incidences of breast cancer increase with age.  If you are over 50 and have not received a mammogram, talk to your doctor. It is so very important.

I am privileged to share Ann’s story with you. I am privileged to know Ann and honoured to call her a friend.

As you can tell, Ann is a fighter. She does not take shit from anyone and does not quit. When her battle is finished and she comes out the victor (as I am sure she will), I will have a medal to add to her collection of Military Medals.

Thank you for your support.