But at the age of 23, on October 28th, 2009, she heard the words, “you have cancer,” and that changed everything. A year before, she felt a lump in her breast and followed up with her GP. She was sent for several ultrasounds and told she was fine, she just had lumpy breasts. But when given the option of a biopsy, she jumped on it.
When the nurses sat her down at the Cross Cancer Institute and told her the news, everything became a blur. Her first concern was whether she would have to drop out of school. A serious student, Leah worried how much this would set her back.
Following her initial biopsy she had a sentinel node biopsy and then a few weeks later, a mastectomy. She was declared cancer free in January 2010 and will now be on Tamoxifen for five years.
Leah had to withdraw from her fall classes, but she decided to enroll in January, just a month after her mastectomy. “It was one of the hardest things I did, getting through that term but I had grad school in mind,” she says. She was buoyed by the Bryan Mudryk Scholarship (he also raises money for the Alberta Cancer Foundation in his annual golf tournament in Boyle, AB) given to students facing cancer while continuing post-secondary education. Still, withdrawing from her fall term set her back a year but she still her sights set on graduate or law school.
In the meantime, she is doing her best to raise awareness among young people about self exams and being persistent when you think something might not be right. She volunteers her time at Alberta Cancer Foundation events, telling people her story. She also walked in last year’s Weekend to End Women’s Cancer’s event, raising money for the Alberta Cancer Foundation. “A lot of people see cancer, especially breast cancer, as being an older person’s disease so it’s not expected in a 23-year-old,” says Leah, who works for the MS Society of Canada while taking classes at the University of Alberta. “Cancer does not discriminate. And I really want people to get that message.”
Leah says she takes better care of herself now—sleeping more, drinking less coffee, and still being as active as ever. She pushed herself after her surgery and recovered quickly.
“I looked at it as another challenge,” says Leah. “At the end of the day, I wouldn’t trade what happened. I am a more empathetic person that I was before and I focused on the wrong things. And one of the most important things is that I learned a lot about my family and friends and what I am capable of.”
