Words on screen:
Everyone in Canada has a right to palliative care.
This is Boni’s story.
VO: First time I heard the word palliative, I thought that means you're dying.
A healthcare worker applies an alcohol swab on Boni’s arm.
VO: No palliative care is about the living and about the quality of life.
A health care worker holds an IV tube
VO: And if that means being able to talk to other individuals,
Boni sits while she receives a treatment.
VO: that have metastatic breast cancer, that's part of it.
Fluid drains from a pleural effusion into a medical bottle.
VO: The palliative piece of care is so essential for people like me that don't live in a major city.
Boni’s husband looking on caringly as his wife receives treatment.
The camera cuts to the health care worker taking the IV tube away from her arm.
VO: Having counseling, having home care come into my home,
Boni, her husband, and her health care worker have a jovial conversation.
VO: That’s important.
Boni holds a baby in a black and white photo on her fridge
VO: It means I can also benefit from being around my family because those services are in my community.
The camera shows Boni in various photos from her son’s wedding on a black wall with a white tree design
VO: I’m able to travel out to have my art classes,
Boni walks after her two black dogs outside in her yard with a light dusting of snow
VO: go to the local coffee shop and have coffee with a friend,
Boni and her two black dogs walk toward a building with a red door
VO: I can go outside, go see my grandchildren
Boni and her granddaughter walk with two yellow sleds on a rope, with her husband accompanying them
VO: but without it,
Boni’s granddaughter pulls her sled.
VO: that life would look really really staid, and I don't think I'd be as healthy as I am.
Boni with her granddaughter in her lap sleds down the hill toward her husband.
The camera cuts to Boni hugging her granddaughter outside.
VO: But every time I go to a blank piece of paper, that paint brush in the water allow me to have texture and colour in my life.
The camera shows a series of close-ups of Boni wearing glasses, painting a picture with water, her brushes, then her paints
VO: There's good and bad, and the darkness makes the light look brighter.
The camera shows Boni painting, first her brush along the paper, and then a shot of her focusing as she paints
VO: And the palliative piece
Boni uses an ink dropper to add more colour to her painting
VO: allows you to focus on the light.
Boni’s granddaughter and husband sled down the hill.
The camera cuts to Boni laughing and clapping.
Words on screen:
Palliative care lets you focus on what matters, when it matters most.
Let’s make sure everyone in Canada gets better care.
Cancer.ca/palliativecare
A message from
CCS Logo