When David, a busy father of two with a demanding job, started feeling unwell, experiencing low energy and not getting better, he knew it was time to call the doctor. But that didn’t ease the shock when he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
Soon after his diagnosis, David began treatment and, at his wife’s suggestion, visited the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) website cancer.ca for the first time.
“It’s so easy to go down the internet rabbit-hole with cancer — especially if you’re already scared and a bit depressed,” says David.
“But the information I found at cancer.ca helped me focus my questions with my doctors and get more specific answers. It also helped me talk about my cancer to my young kids because as much as I felt in the dark, they were even more so.”
Thanks to your support, David also found meaningful support when cancer.ca introduced him to CCS’s CancerConnection.ca, an online community for people with cancer, cancer survivors and caregivers to find connection, exchange information and share their experiences. Having positive support to turn to was important to David when his treatment was most difficult.
“When I was at my lowest, I used CancerConnection.ca quite a bit because I was just miserable and angry,” David remembers. “But then I realized I could help other people from sharing my experiences — just knowing my experience is out there and can help people makes me feel better.”
Because of you, CCS’s nationwide support system offers tailored support to people like David when it is needed most.