The Canadian Cancer Society is celebrating their 75th anniversary and the Â鶹´«Ã½AVeast Unit held their annual general meeting on Wednesday night at Grace United Church.
Many speeches thanked volunteers and provided encouragement to those fighting cancer.
Myron Fletcher, past president of the Â鶹´«Ã½AVeast Unit, marked the occasion with some words from Keith Karasin, executive director of the Saskatchewan Division.
Karasin noted the improvements in cancer treatments and facilities since 1938, when the society began, and thanked all the volunteers over the years for their contribution.
In 1938, cancer survival rates in Canada were 25 per cent. Now, 62 per cent of all patients diagnosed with cancer will survive at least another five years.
Karasin said the Cancer Society was integral in raising the funds and awareness that contributed to life saving research and cancer treatment facilities.
"We are with you in the fight for life," said Fletcher on behalf of Karasin.
Next, Nancy Styles, Weyburn city councillor, spoke.
Styles said cancer is a cause that hits close to home and has far reaching effects.
Styles, who just lost her mother to cancer on March 19, thanked the volunteers for all they do for people living with cancer and for their families.
"Everything you do means something," said Styles to the volunteers and explained that she felt better knowing her mother had the care of volunteers during her treatment.
Styles ended her speech by comparing cancer to the crab, with many long legs reaching outward from a central body, for which it was named, and said the volunteers were the "frontline troops" that helped "lop off a few of those legs".
Representatives from "Sharing the Journey", a new cancer support group for women in Weyburn, were scheduled to give the keynote speech but had to send their regrets.
Mary Antonenko gave a survivor's speech that cause some present to gasp at her horrible experiences.
Antonenko was diagnosed in 2010, the same year her father was hospitalized with cancer. That year, her eldest daughter graduated from high school in Moose Jaw and her youngest daughter, who was 15 years old, died in a car accident.
Six weeks after her daughter's death, her father passed away.
She first started to notice that she felt tired and had gained a little weight, but chalked it up to life. She said she had been through a lot recently and she was also in the process of starting her own business.
She finally decided to visit the doctor after she passed out on the toilet one night, after feeling extreme pain in her abdomen, and woke up covered in her own blood.
The next morning, Antonenko's doctor scheduled an ultrasound for her.
At the ultrasound appointment Antonenko was asked to consent to a transvaginal ultrasound. She consented.
"Women, if you are asked to consent to a transvaginal ultrasound, it's probably a good idea to say yes," said Antonenko. The ultrasound showed some abnormalities that caused her doctor to immediately schedule a CT scan for that same week.
After the CT scan, Antonenko said the tech immediately called her into his office and said she needed to have a consultation with a general surgeon and gynocological oncologist before leaving.
Antonenko was diagnosed with stage 4 ovarian cancer which has spread to her bladder and bowel as well.
"Look! This isn't the worst thing to happen in my life. What do we do now?" Antonenko told the doctor upon hearing her diagnosis.
They scheduled two procedures before a surgery to complete a full hysterectomy.
The gynocological oncologist was not part of the surgical consultation.
In retrospect, Antonenko said this was a mistake. It resulted in more surgeries and chemo treatments to get the rest of the cancer. The cancer on the bowel had not been removed.
Upon hearing she still had cancer, Antonenko said she finally had a breakdown. The thought of starting to healing process all over again was very hard.
After an other treatment and six difficult chemo treatments, Antonenko was finally cancer-free in 2011, but said the experience has changed her life.
She couldn't go back to her business because she is too physically and emotionally drained to give it what it needs and her life has yet to find a new routine.
"We just don't all plan on starting our lives over at 54 years old," said Antonenko with a smile.
In April of 2012, Antonenko attended a "Living Well with Cancer" conference in Saskatoon with her new husband. She said she has survived and is happy to be alive and, as a result of the conference, is now giving speeches about her fight with cancer.
