Canadian Cancer Society focuses on hope for patients with Daffodil Month
As a two-time cancer survivor, Jennifer Mitchell knows how important hope can be to the recovery process. It’s a feeling she strongly associates with the daffodil.
“The daffodil is one of the first flowers to bloom in spring,” she said. “To me it’s a sign of hope and resilience. I resonate with it. It’s a new beginning.”
The daffodil and other flowers and plants take centre stage in the spring, as the Maritimes and the rest of Canada shrug off winter and look towards warmer months as a time of renewal. It’s a feeling the Canadian Cancer Society hopes to capture this month.
Jane Parsons, executive vice president of revenue development with the Canadian Cancer Society, said the group uses the humble flower as a symbol of renewal and power for April, which is officially Daffodil Month. The annual event focuses on fundraising for cancer initiatives and informing the public about the society’s programs.
“Sixty-five years ago, Daffodil Month started as a tea party and now it’s a national movement,” Parsons said. “We focus on our legacy and our rich future.
“When CCS was founded in 1938, the cancer survival rate was 25 per cent.” (According to the Canadian Cancer Statistics 2021, the five-year net cancer survival rate was estimated to be 64 per cent for all cancers combined).
Parsons said the society is lobbying the federal government to protect cancer patients’ jobs during treatment, among other measures. On the patient level, she said they try to provide personalized help to people who need it.
“The cancer experience is personal,” Parsons said. “At times wigs and breast prostheses make people feel more confident. It’s less about the disease and more about them.
“It’s very personal. Many people who lose their hair will take a wig or turban to support them emotionally.”
One of the major programs for the society is their lodges, which provide housing for patients undergoing cancer treatment far from home. Mitchell is well acquainted with the lodges and the services the society can provide.
“My diagnosis required me to move St. John’s, N.L.,” she said. “I had to make the trek across the island and I was there for eight months.”
Mitchell now sits on the Newfoundland advisory board for the Canadian Cancer Society, bringing her perspective as a survivor to the organization.
“Cancer is a scary word, (but) these days it’s not a death sentence,” she said. “There is hope and there’s support available. You’re not alone.
“I had a lot of family around me but I felt I was alone in my diagnosis. I tell people they’re not alone. There are so many people going through similar experiences.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
NEW Is there a cost to convenience? Canada approves new cancer immunotherapy treatment
A new cancer treatment recently approved in Canada promises to cut treatment time down to just minutes, but experts have differing opinions on whether it's what's best for patients.
Air Canada walks back new seat selection policy change after backlash
Air Canada has paused a new seat selection fee for travellers booked on the lowest fares just days after implementing it.
Canada's new dental program offering hope of free care to millions but many dentists aren't signed up
A new Canadian dental care program is offering the hope of free care to millions, but while 1.7 million people have signed up for the plan, only about 5,000 dentists have done the same.
Province boots mayor and council in small northern Ont. town out of office
An ongoing municipal strike, court battles and revolt by half of council has prompted the province to oust the mayor and council in Black River-Matheson.
King Charles III returns to public duties with a trip to a cancer charity
King Charles III will return to public duties on Tuesday when he visits a cancer treatment charity, beginning his carefully managed comeback after the monarch’s own cancer diagnosis sidelined him for three months.
NDP says Ottawa's new grocery task force isn't living up to government promises
The federal government says the task force it created to monitor and investigate grocery retailers' practices has not conducted any probes and doesn't have a mandate to take enforcement action.
Archeologists search for remnants of Halifax's 250-year-old wall that surrounded the city
Archeologist Jonathan Fowler is using ground-penetrating radar to search for historic evidence of the massive wall that surrounded Halifax more than 250 years ago.
Kazakhstan arrests ex-interior minister in connection with unrest that left 238 dead
Authorities in Kazakhstan arrested a former interior minister on Tuesday, in connection with deadly police crackdown on unrest that gripped the country in 2022, Kazakh news media reported.
A group of Toronto tenants have been on a rent strike for a year and say there's no resolution in sight
Dozens of tenants in Toronto's Thorncliffe Park area have now been withholding their rent for one year, and it’s unclear when the dispute will end.