At each CIBC Run for the Cure, Collingwood’s chapter included, there used to be a survivor’s tent - meant as a symbol of hope people with a cancer diagnosis.
But what if survival wasn’t an option?
Last year, Collingwood’s run organizers changed the survivor’s tent to the Hope Lounge to open it up to those who might never get to ring a bell signalling the end of their treatment.
“The survivor language to someone who is always going to be in treatment doesn’t give as much hope as you’d like it to,” said Laura Rice, co-director of the Run for the Cure in Collingwood. She wanted to give as much hope as possible.
Lyndsey McFarland has breast cancer that has spread (known as metastasized) to her liver, lymph nodes, lungs, and brain. When it has spread in this way, it’s considered “stage four.” She will be in treatment for the rest of her life.
This will be her third year participating in the Collingwood Run for the Cure, and she’s glad to see a Hope Lounge in place of a Survivor’s Tent, in fact, it’s a change the Canadian Cancer Society has picked up for Run for the Cure events across the country.
“That’s better,” said McFarland. “It’s out there for other people. People out there have different kinds of stories to tell.”
McFarland’s own story took a drastic turn in June 2017. She was dogsitting and had a fall. She was experiencing pain in her chest and back, which she assumed were injuries from her fall. While at work on June 24, 2017, she was sick (vomiting) and ended up in the hospital.
Doctors told her it could be her gallbladder and asked her back for tests the next day. After five hours of testing and waiting for results, McFarland found out she had breast cancer.
She was sent to Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) almost immediately for treatment.
“Your whole life just changes,” said McFarland, 44 years old at the time of her diagnosis. “I didn’t have time to think, I didn’t have time to breathe.”
At RVH she found out the breast cancer had metastasized to her liver, lymph nodes, and one lung. She underwent five months of chemotherapy treatment. Following that she went to RVH for testing every three months.
In February, she had another fall and suffered a concussion. By June 2018, she was still experiencing what she thought were concussion symptoms - poor vision, reduced hearing, trouble speaking. Tests showed two brain tumours.
McFarland has just finished 10 rounds of radiation.
She will receive a hormone therapy treatment every three weeks for the rest of her life.
Before her first diagnosis, McFarland had been receiving mammograms every two years since she was 38 years old. When she was diagnosed, she was about due for her two-year mammogram.
“For my first diagnosis, my life expectancy was two to five years,” said McFarland. “My goal is to get to age 50.”
She has since met two women with similar cancer who made it to ten years after the same diagnosis.
“I thought there was more of a chance when you look after yourself and be positive,” said McFarland.
The prognosis for her brain tumours is a life expectancy around one year.
“My goal is still to get to 50. I’m going to throw myself a big party,” said McFarland. “I think there’s more of a chance when you look after yourself and be positive.”
She does both with something she calls Lyndsey’s Adventures - a bucket list with four columns ranking activities from very likely to “off the charts.”
Last summer she checked off two in the second column when she took a ride on a Tiger Moth airplane and a glider.
She said she’d love to be able to go on a submarine.
One of her “impossible” goals is travelling to England, where she was born. She doesn’t see it happening. She’s on social assistance and cannot save the money she’d need to take the trip.
“I love to do adventures,” she said. She’s already been bungee jumping and skydiving.
Another part of her goal of positivity has been to participate in the Run for the Cure. She said her first time walking - shortly after her first cancer diagnosis - was “amazing.”
“I had all my family and friends with me and they were very supportive,” she said. “I was going it for myself, but I was also doing it for others.”
On the day, McFarland walked the five-kilometre route with her father.
“He’s not much of a walker, but he came with me and held my hand the entire walk,” she said. “My friends waited for us at the finish line and let us cross before them so we wouldn’t finish last.”
Last year, McFarland was part of the Metastatic Team whose fundraising dollars go toward research into metastatic breast cancer specifically.
She said it was motivating to know there was research specifically into the type of cancer she is living with.
“Through the research, maybe we can find out why we get it and how we prevent it,” she said.
The CIBC Run for the Cure is a 5k or 1k walk or run that raises funds for the Canadian Cancer Society. It is the largest single-day, volunteer-led event in Canada in support of the breast cancer cause.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the local event, which takes place at Blue Mountain Village. Last year, there were 256 participants, and Rice hopes to see more than 300 this year. Her fundraising goal is $60,000 for the event.
Rice said she’s looking for teams and individual participants for the event, which takes place Oct. 6 across the country.
Earlybird registration for the event is $40 per person, and that goes up to $45 per person on Sept. 1. The deadline to register a team is Sept. 19.
Participants can waive the registration fee if they commit to raising $150 or more for the event.
For more on the Blue Mountains/Collingwood Run for the Cure, or to register and donate, click here.
