A Wife’s Worst Fear Realized – Gilda’s Story

Hi, my name is Gilda. Our story starts out like many others who are diagnosed with Colorectal cancer. Over a year ago, my husband Domenic noticed some blood in his stool and was a bit concerned but as it only happened once, he brushed it off and didn’t mention it to anyone. A year later, the same happened, but it was more than once, and the concern went from a bit the year before, to full blown scared. He brought himself to the doctor who ordered a colonoscopy ASAP and here we are today. With all the back and forth at the time, a colonoscopy to remove the polyps, to finding one polyp too large and too far in to remove that required it to be removed in a hospital – it was always a waiting game for pathology results. We were so overwhelmed and confused and heartbroken when the results came in that cancer cells were found! We were devastated.

My husband started this journey at one healthcare centre, but we had reservations and doubts staying with that facility for his upcoming cancer battle. But how do we move on? How do we know where to receive the best care and how do we avoid having surgery in a centre with which we did not feel comfortable for it did not specialize in the treatment of my husband’s cancer? And how do we move quickly knowing we are dealing with cancer which waits for no one? I was discussing (while having a breakdown) this with my employer who right away put me in touch with Colorectal Cancer Canada (CCC) – a cancer patient organization. They provided the much-needed relief we needed. Within a day we had a requisition with one of the best surgeons for this type of cancer in North America. Within a week, my husband had an appointment with him at Sunnybrook, his CT scans and another appointment with the doctor to confirm and go forward with the treatment plan required. It was an immense relief to have CCC there for us. Never do I like being told what to do but in this instance, I was grateful to have CCC explain every little thing in verbiage understandable to us. CCC is there every step of the way for the patient and caregiver. Even if you need the support at an appointment with the doctor, they are there, asking questions you would forget to ask because you are under a tremendous amount of stress and your brain feels like it’s not really in your body. Simply put, CCC has been the best part of this terrible part of our lives. We honestly cannot be more grateful that we are under their watch.

Simply put, CCC and Filomena have been the best part of this terrible part of my husband’s life – my whole family actually. We honestly cannot be more grateful that we are under their watch.