Cancer Care Doesn’t End with Medical Treatment—Here’s Where Canadians Can Find Support

Brain fog. Fatigue. Pain. Loneliness. Fear of the future. When Angela Davis was diagnosed nearly four years ago with invasive ductal carcinoma, a type of breast cancer, she knew her medical treatment would be difficult. But what she wasn’t prepared for was just how impactful cancer would be on her entire life.

A police officer on the leadership track, Davis says, “I was going 100 miles an hour before cancer. And then it came to a complete stop.”

She adds, “I experienced things like neuropathy, brain fog, fatigue, sleep disruption, bone pain…I never actually expected how deeply cancer would impact my everyday life and not just my body. Before my diagnosis, I had a very intense career. And suddenly I had to think about life in a very different way.”

When the impact sets in

The nearest cancer centre was four hours away from Davis’s home in Kirkland, Ontario. But even more challenging than having to travel far distances to attend countless medical appointments, Davis says feelings of grief and isolation packed the greatest wallop, emotions not even her husband could really understand. “I was struggling in silence by myself, going, What do I do now? Where do I go?” Davis recalls.

But one day a chance encounter with another breast cancer patient changed her life—this time for the better. “I met this woman and she told me how much support she had received from Wellspring Cancer Support. I’d never heard of it. Living in a small northern community, I assumed there wouldn’t be any services available to someone like me. But I went home and looked them up on the internet.”

With no referral requirements and online programming available, it took Davis virtually no time to get started. “At first, I just looked to see what was available because I really didn’t know what I could do,” she says. But she soon signed up for a host of programs, including sessions focused on managing brain fog and cancer-related fatigue, cancer exercise, yoga and meditation, nutrition and dealing with uncertainty.

“Wellspring changed everything for me because I was able to access support and access it so easily,” she says.

For Amanda Smart, Wellspring’s chief mission officer, that’s exactly the goal. “Like so many Canadians, I’ve seen how a cancer diagnosis can affect not just the individual but the entire family. I came to Wellspring to help people live better with cancer. What we do here is about ensuring folks can find connection, that they have dignity in their experience and that they can restore a sense of control during one of the truly scariest and most vulnerable times in their lives.”

Support that fills the gaps in cancer care

From peer support groups to workshops on balancing treatment and family obligations to practical sessions about navigating financial challenges and offerings for caregivers and family members, Wellspring’s programs are an important extension to the Canadian health care system. While some of Wellspring’s 50-plus evidence-based and professionally-led programs are conducted in person, all are accessible online, along with self-guided resources and community forums.

“We helped more than 15,000 people network-wide just last year alone,” Smart says. “96 per cent said their quality of life had improved, and 97 per cent said Wellspring helped them feel less isolated.”

That was Davis’s experience too and it’s why she wants more Canadians living with cancer to know these resources exist.

“Wellspring helped me shift from isolation to connection,” she says. “As a police officer, we’re always running towards the fire to support the community, but when I got cancer, I needed a community to support me. Wellspring was that place.”

To learn more about Wellspring’s offerings for people living with cancer and to register visit wellspring.ca/macleans.