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On the road to cancer treatment

Volunteers sought to help get patients to Vancouver

On what was a near perfect afternoon in Whistler Devon Brusse spoke of life like many mothers do; she was confident and had a gleam in her eye whenever conversation turned to her four-year-old son Noah.

As she walked up some stairs into an office the white walls helped highlight her blonde hair and her voice was just as steady as her temperament.

By any standard Brusse looks and talks like a healthy Whistlerite.

But things have not always been this way for her. In July 1999 she was diagnosed with cancer and given a choice that would have decimated even the most even-tempered hockey coach.

Brusse’s choice was: abort the baby or risk a quick death.

Brusse agreed to share her story because her colleague Maureen Daschuk is the President of the Whistler/Pemberton Canadian Cancer Society and she is trying to start a program that would help people such as Brusse.

Daschuk has made funding applications to the Whistler-Blackcomb Foundation and the head office of the Canadian Cancer Society for a shuttle service for cancer patients between Pemberton and Vancouver.

The service would cater to cancer patients who must endure treatments such as chemotherapy, which are often harsh and can take more than eight hours to complete.

The CCS agreed Daschuk’s idea was a good one but it has already awarded its 2004 grants and is not in a position to consider further funding until September, which is when all the 2005 programs are accessed.

But Daschuk wants to get the program running as soon as possible and to do so she needs volunteer drivers and sponsors to cover mileage costs.

"I’d need about 25 people on the volunteer list to help do about 50 trips a month," Daschuk said.

"The volunteers would have to go through a short training program just so they know what to expect when they’re driving a cancer patient who’s just had treatment."

Brusse said a "cancer bus" service would be a great help for cancer patients in Pemberton and Whistler because many of them have partners and friends who can’t get time off work.

"I think it (a bus) would have been a lot easier because sometimes when you go down there you just want to come home and don’t want to talk along the way and families are so, you know, ‘are you ok?’, which can be the worst," Brusse said.

"I did (chemotherapy) treatment for a year and a half and it was a pain in the ass having to go up and down the highway every four to six weeks.

"One time I came back (after chemotherapy) on the Greyhound I was so sick I was in the bathroom throwing up.

"My son was a year and a half old and he was bombing around in the bus and the lady next to me said ‘I’ll take care of your son you go be sick and try and relax’," she said. "I was thinking OK, she can’t take off with my son because we’re on a bus.

"Earlier on in the treatment I had to drive myself down and on the way back I had to stop to use the side of the road up to 14 or 15 times.

"It wasn’t safe – I was terrified I was going to go off the road.

"But that was stupid on my part, I never did it again. My husband was like, ‘I told you, I told you’ but he just couldn’t get the time off work."

Brusse added that the problem with many cancer patients, particularly in the beginning, is that they don’t want to ask for help.

"When you’re going through cancer it’s a very private thing so it’s hard to go ‘can you help me out and give me a lift?’ ‘Can you waste your day?’

"You feel like you don’t want to ask and it’s hard to ask.

"It’s also a full day commitment for that friend or family member because you’ve got go down, go to the doctor and do blood work then you do chemo," she said. "They’ve got to make sure that you’re OK to leave the hospital so you’re usually showing up in the hospital at 9 a.m. and leaving at 4 p.m.

"It’s a long day for the patient and the driver."

Brusse said most cancer patients contemplate moving closer to treatment centres but this process can often be more of a hindrance than a help.

"When you’re told you have cancer you don’t necessarily die, you can live a long life.

"That’s what’s so awesome about the Whistler attitude, which is live life to the fullest play hard, work hard.

"To uproot family it would be really hard for most people."

Should anyone want to donate time or money to Daschuk’s program they can contact her at 604-935-4040.

In the meantime, cancer patients in the Sea to Sky corridor who are undergoing treatment could contact the Vancouver Lodge at 604-879-9131.

The Vancouver Lodge caters specifically to cancer patients who need a place to stay and it’s situated close to Vancouver General Hospital and the Vancouver Cancer Centre.