Featured Fighter – Terri Wingham
July 7, 2015
By: Terri Wingham
BASIC INFO:
Name: Terri Wingham
Age: 36
Hometown: Born and raised in Vanderhoof (BC), called Vancouver home for 8 years, and now spend most of my time living out of a suitcase.
Occupation: Founder of A Fresh Chapter (www.afreshchapter.com)
Diagnosis: Breast Cancer
If you were a professional boxer or wrestler, what would your name be? The Phoenix
HER FRIGHT:
The call came on a sunny Tuesday in late October 2009. I had stepped out of a meeting to check my voicemail and heard the voice of the Genetics Oncologist who had been following me closely for the 10 years I had known I was a BRCA1 carrier.
My knees buckled when she said the word “cancer.” Even after all of the scans and conversations about my risks, I wasn’t ready. What was I scared of? Everything. Not being able to work, losing my hair, throwing up, having people know I was sick, and actually being too sick to work, to date, to take care of myself – to live my life.
In the weeks and months that followed, the fears escalated. I hated being labelled a cancer patient but the label of Professional Recruiter no longer fit. What if I would never feel well again? What if I could never date and fulfill my dreams of marriage and motherhood? What if I didn’t want to go back to my former job? I was paralyzed by a cancer-induced identity crisis.
HER FIGHT:
The day after my diagnosis, I was in the office of one of the best breast surgeons in Vancouver. She recommended an immediate lumpectomy and lymph node dissection followed by chemotherapy, a double mastectomy, and reconstruction.
Some of the hardest moments? Being locked in a hospital room fighting a raging fever while my friends enjoyed parties for the 2010 Olympics. Watching my closest group of friends plan and go on a trip to Las Vegas for a friend’s stagette while I emptied the drains coming up out of my post-mastectomy surgery site.
One of the toughest parts came when I was least expecting it. As I rounded the corner out of treatment, I expected to want to ring a bell, throw a party, and celebrate. Instead I felt like a ship tossed into unchartered seas – stranded somewhere between the land of the sick and the land of the well.
FIGHTING HER FRIGHT:
During the toughest times, I was grateful for the phone calls from friends to say hello, the people who brought food, books, and the outside world into my apartment when I couldn’t leave.
I wished I had known that I could get support for dealing with the emotional fallout of cancer without having to go to a hospital and sit in a circle. I wanted to find my tribe, but I wasn’t sure how. I knew there must be people like me out there. People whose life has been turned upside down by cancer, but who wanted to believe that something new might be possible for them.
It was this search for new meaning, new purpose, new possibilities, and new connections that gave birth to the dream of A Fresh Chapter.
