NEWS - Performance Printing

Writing my own happy ending with CHEO’s helpBy Vienna Arbic with Isabelle Mailloux PulkinghornMy name is Vienna and I am nine years old. I’min grade three, play defense on my hockey team,and enjoy doing crafts and writing stories. I lovespending time with my parents Sherry and RichardArbic, and my friends. And I have cancer.My ‘real’ life had to be put on hold while thedoctors at CHEO help me get rid of cancer. Mineis called Germ cell tumor, a very rare form of braincancer - and I want it to go away.If this were a story I came up with, there wouldn’tbe a port-a-cath, operations and chemotherapyinvolved. I wouldn’t need lumbar punctures andI could be home with my parents and my dogsinstead of in the hospital. I’d be playing hockeyand graduating grade three with everyone in myclass. If this were a story I made up, it’d be funnylike the Robert Munsch books that I love so much.But cancer is serious.One day at hockey practice I hurt my head andended up with a concussion. I had all the classicsymptoms, and even after the prescribed rest periodI was not getting better. I was sleeping 18 hours aday, falling asleep at school and again later in theafternoon. I had severe headaches that even the painmedicine would not relieve. I had no short-termmemory and my parents say I just wasn’t myself.So my parents took me to CHEO. Anendocrinologist ordered a CT scan and it detecteda tumor in the center of my brain that was pressingagainst my thyroid, pituitary and hypothalamusglands causing fluid to build up. Then Dr.Vassilyadi, a CHEO neurosurgeon, installed ashunt in my brain to drain the fluid and relieve thepressure; that’s when I started to feel much better.The oncologists told us that Germ cell tumors in thebrain are very rare but the good news is that theyusually respond well to radiation; although some doneed a mix of radiation, chemotherapy and surgery.In my case, we quickly started with chemotherapy.Had it not been for my parents’ persistence topush for physicians to investigate further becausethey knew somethingwas wrong with me,had it not been for theconcussion itself andfor the team of CHEOneurologists, endocrinologists and oncologists whocare for me, my story could have had a sad ending.But now, there’s hope.Chemotherapy is not fun - it actually makes mevery sick. I lost my hair and I look very differentbecause of the cortisone, but it is helping me getbetter. It is shrinking the size of my tumor, and thatis great news! Once the last cycle of chemotherapywill be finished, we’ll start radiation therapy to helpreduce the tumor even more and hopefully make itgo away forever. I hope we’re done by the end ofthe summer so I can start my hockey season and goback to school. Mom and dad have already foundspecial hockey equipment that will protect my port(where the doctors inject the medications).I can’t wait to get back to my real life. Until then, Iwill take my medicine, continue chemo and rest somy body can fight cancer and I can get better.It’s funny because I’ve always wanted to becomea doctor when I grow up. Now, as mom says, I’mgetting an insider’s view and that will help makeme be a great doctor someday. I also want to keepwriting, so maybe I’ll become a doctor-writer. Butone thing is certain: my stories will always havehappy endings. Just like this one will.Retired educator gives back following cancer treatment at TOHBy Tracey TongThe first sign ofcancer appearedsuddenly for Duncan Ferguson.Ferguson—a retired principal with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board and a part-timeinstructor at the University of Ottawa—was sittingin a Barrhaven classroom in 2008 when he developeda sudden and unrelenting pain in his back.“I thought I had twisted it,” he recalled, “It was sopainful I had to leave class.”He visited his family doctor and tests revealed thatFerguson had Stage 4 non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.“It was a shock,” he said. By that time, the cancerhad already spread to his lymph nodes and doctorsthought it might be too advanced for treatment.He was admitted to The Ottawa HospitalCancer Centre, where he started the first of eightchemotherapy sessions in March 2008.“Family and friends were there for my family,”said Ferguson. “Our freezer always had casseroles.It was an amazing experience in that way. Thesupport of our friends and neighbours wasabsolutely phenomenal.”Now recovered, the 76-year-old father andgrandfather has been looking for ways to give back– not just for himself, but because cancer has hit hisfamily hard. His father is a prostate cancer survivor,and years ago, his brother, Carl, succumbed torectal cancer at age 30. Once a week he volunteersat The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre as avolunteer trainer, and last year, be began an EMCnewspaper route, donating all of his earningsto Dr. John Bell’s cancer research at the OttawaHospital Research Institute. He has also signed upto fundraise for The Ottawa Hospital.“When you have cancer, you need to remainoptimistic,” Ferguson said. “People living withcancer can’t spend their lives concentrating on thedisease. With my paper route and volunteering, mymind is not on the cancer, it’s on making it better.”R0012122736