The dreaded ‘C’ word

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We are told that repeatedly by those significantly older than us, but human nature has us sluffing it off with the mindset that we are indeed invincible.

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Pavel Novak is 20. He is an athlete. He wasn’t invincible.

Cancer can strike anyone at any age.

What Novak learned through this health scare is no one is immune. We are vulnerable, but when cancer got in his way, he fought back, with the help of physicians and family, while stepping back and prioritizing what really matters in life.

My mother, Lil, died of brain cancer in 2008.  My father, Vern, a Rockets season ticket holder who watched Pavel Novak play, passed away from jaw cancer in 2020.

In my dad’s case, specifically, I walked with him every step of the way during his fight. I took him to numerous jaw surgeries and cancer specialists on how best to beat the odds.

I remember calling a home game the night of his 11 hour jaw surgery, my mind often being distracted by the play on the ice, but reverting back to the reality that my 80-year-old father, who was my greatest cheerleader in life, was undergoing dangerous surgery at nearby Kelowna General Hospital, that could take his life.

I routinely escorted him to the BC Cancer Clinic, better know to some as the Sindi Ahluwalia Hawkins Centre for the Southern Interior.

I sat in the waiting room with him, surrounded by other patients and family members that were fighting the same fight we were.

Walking the halls of the cancer clinic put life in perspective. Seeing all those sad faces looking for hope is humbling.

Many receive excellent treatment and walk away as survivors. Others leave with the news, much like my father and I did, that the cancer is advancing, and this Christmas will be the last with your loved one.

Do I live my life differently today due to what my father went through? Without a shadow of a doubt.

We inherently take life for granted. As a human race, we sweat the small stuff, yet don’t prioritize what really counts.

The relationships we build, the people closest to us and the health we have should force us to live each day to its fullest.

Sadly, it takes a significant health scare, much like Pavel Novak experienced this summer, to get our priorities straight.

The phrase ‘the grind’ is often used in sports as a way of explaining all the practices, travel, games, and long season an athlete must endure.

The real definition of ‘the grind’ is a cancer patient, receiving radiation or chemotherapy, like Pavel Novak did, to kill the cancer cells that exist.

Novak is one of the fortunate ones.

He is a cancer survivor and moving forward, will be grateful, even when challenges come his way, whether on the ice or off it.

Hearing the dreaded ‘C’ word will do that.

Don’t let a life threatening illness be the reason why you aren’t living life to the fullest.