Music means the world to Vern Vaillancourt.
The local musician was having a busy year with lots of bookings, so when he started to get a sore throat he thought he was getting a cold, but it didn't develop into anything. Then he thought he might be getting allergies, but said that didn't make any sense. He eventually put it down to singing too much.
When he finally got in to see a specialist, Vaillancourt says the doctor was able to make a quick diagnosis, the 56-year-old had throat cancer. Within two weeks he was in Sudbury getting radiation treatments. That was a year ago.
"Even the initial diagnosis from doctors because I was so early, they weren't seeing anything obvious, and you get treated like it's a cold or it's this or it's that and I still had to keep pushing for health care," said Vaillancourt. "The most frustrating part of it was the six-month wait from family doctor to specialist, because I knew something was wrong and it wasn't getting better. But that's what it takes to see a specialist, they're so hard to get access to."
At one point during his treatment Vaillancourt couldn't swallow, and ended up losing his voice for months. He was discouraged having to cancel several months worth of musical performances. He was frightened he wouldn't get his voice back.
It was a slow process but his voice eventually returned, although it was very different from his old singing voice.
Vaillancourt is this year's Relay for Life Honourary Survivor, leading other survivors around the track at 22 Wing CFB North Bay. His message was simple, don't ignore the symptoms and stop making excuses because early detection is critical.
"So many of us might recognize there's something wrong with ourselves but we don't really want to deal with it and will ignore it. I've seen friends and family do that and ignore the signs for months and months and months, sometimes until it's too late," said Vaillancourt. "I didn't do that, I was very proactive when I started to feel something was wrong.I made excuses for a little while and then started to push."
Vaillancourt's wife Cathy knew what to expect as a caregiver and supporter, but noted her husband made it as easy for her as possible.
"I lost both parents to cancer so I was well aware of what it could be like, and I was well aware of how important the support is," said Cathy Vaillancourt. "I got a lot of support too. I had recently started a new job and I can't say enough about my new co-workers and how supportive they were. And my family, Vern's parents have been through the cancer struggle so they were 100% supportive."
This year was her first time participating in the relay.
"I always avoided it because I tend to grieve very privately and I always thought I don't want to cry in front of all these people. Well of course with Vern being in the position he is this year, of course I was going to come out. And of course I cried, and that's okay." Vaillancourt went on to say, "I wish that more was being done to be honest. It's very frustrating for me that people are still passing away from cancer with all the money that is being donated. I wish a faster cure could be found but it is what it is."
This year is the 17th annual Relay for Life in North Bay.
Julie Lefebvre has been there since the beginning either as a team member or volunteer. Her own son was diagnosed with cancer as a toddler. Lefebvre says a big part of going through the journey is knowing you're not alone.
"I first started Relay for Life 17 years ago because my son is a survivor. He was diagnosed with Leukemia when he was just two years old. We wanted to give back to the community and the Cancer Society, so we actually joined a team and it was amazing," recalled Vaillancourt. "Unfortunately last year he was diagnosed with a second cancer, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He is doing better now, he has finished his treatment, and he's here again this year to do the relay to help out other people."
The Community Fundraising Specialist for the local Canadian Cancer Society office says the number of teams and participants are on par with last year. As of noon Friday, 46 teams had registered bringing the number of participants to roughly 400. Deb Marson went on to say
"I don't think it's had its time. I think there's always new people coming out. We get a lot of loyal people that have been here for a lot of years, so we know those long-standing ones are there," said Marson. "We also know there's new people coming to experience it because the proximity to cancer is everybody, so it's close and everyone has a vested interest in it."
This year's target is $123,000.
