Yoga for the Cure: Moving with Hope

Tonight, our community gathered at Hebbville Academy for Yoga for the Cure to support the Crusaders and the Canadian Cancer Society CIBC Run for the Cure.

Our practice was centred on five things I believe support our health each day: raising the heart rate, stretching, building strength, practising mindfulness, and breathing with intention.

But there was something more in the room tonight.

Community.

We moved and breathed together, supporting each other. By showing up and donating, we also supported people and families affected by breast cancer.

I am truly grateful to everyone who came, donated, helped out, shared the event, or offered encouragement. Together, we have raised $1,123.50 for the Crusaders and the Run for the Cure.

Every contribution made the evening special, and I am so thankful for the generosity of our family, friends, fellow yogis, and community.

For Tanya, One of My RISE Angels

Tonight’s practice also had a very personal meaning for me.

This week, I lost my dear friend Tanya Baker D'Arcy.

Tanya was one of my RISE Angels and supported me as I wrote RISE: Living Life Over Cancer. She shared her feedback, wisdom, and real-life experience, helping me make sure the book truly reflected what it’s like to live with cancer.

Tanya was also living with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer, so tonight’s support for breast cancer research and the search for better treatments and a cure means even more to me.

But our connection grew beyond just the book.

Tanya and I stayed close, checking in with questions, updates, encouragement, or just to say hello.

It’s special to have someone in your life who understands your journey and knows the ups and downs that come with it.

Tanya was that person for me.

So tonight, surrounded by people moving together in hope, I kept her close in my heart.

At the end of our practice, we reached Savasana.

This posture has no expectations.

Nothing to achieve.

Nothing to prove.

Just breath.

And in that stillness, I think each of us held someone close in our hearts.

I held Tanya close.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/4a7d66_dbf844ade11a4b5492ae8f7dbe83e6a8/360p/mp4/file.mp4

Fly high, my sister, fly high.

Every Step Matters: What Terry Fox Still Teaches Us About Hope

Some stories stay with us long after they start. Terry Fox’s story is one of those.

Recently, I had the privilege of speaking with students and staff at Bluenose Academy as they gathered to honour Terry Fox and his Marathon of Hope.

As I stood in front of a school full of 700 students from grades primary through nine, I thought about how simple and powerful Terry’s example was. He didn’t know what was coming next, but he kept moving forward, one step at a time.

That idea became the main point of my message.

Every step matters.

I talked a bit about Terry’s story, but I also shared some of my own experiences.

Living with Stage IV metastatic breast cancer has taught me a lot about uncertainty. Some days, the way forward is clear. Other days, it isn’t. Sometimes plans and treatments change, and life asks us to adjust again.

Through all of this, I’ve learned how important it is to keep moving forward.

Sometimes that means taking a big step.

Sometimes it means taking a very small one.

Sometimes it simply means getting up and choosing hope again.

Terry Fox showed great courage, but I wanted students to see that courage can also show up in everyday life. It can be in kindness, perseverance, helping someone, facing something hard, or just trying again.

We don’t all have to run across Canada to make a difference.

Each of us has our own steps to take.

Looking out at the students, I reminded them that everyone faces challenges. None of us can avoid uncertainty. What matters is how we respond to it.

One foot in front of the other.

That message has become deeply personal for me.

Cancer is part of my life, but it doesn’t define me. I keep choosing family, travel, movement, laughter, meaningful work, connection, and hope. I try to live each day as fully as I can.

Terry’s Marathon of Hope goes on because people keep sharing his message.

Students run.

Families donate.

Schools gather.

Communities remember.

Research continues.

Hope continues.

Thank you to Stephanie Hunt, staff, and students for including me in this special day!

I’m grateful to the staff and students of Bluenose Academy for letting me join their Terry Fox celebration and for reminding me again how powerful community can be.

Maybe that’s one of Terry’s greatest legacies.

He showed us that one person can start something meaningful, but it takes many people and many steps to keep it going.

No matter what path you’re on today, I hope you remember this:

You do not have to take the biggest step.

You do not have to be the fastest.

You have to keep moving forward.

One foot in front of the other.

Every step matters.

Watch the full presentation here: https://youtu.be/W04R8ttoKiA?si=ageXMKvOLjNYjgW2.

Two Women, One Birthday, a Lifetime of Care

Today I celebrate two incredible women who share the same birthday and so many of the same qualities: fierce loyalty, a passion for health care, deep love for family and friends, resilience, and the strength of smart, compassionate women.

Alanna at her son's wedding.

Alanna is my sister from the heart. We have travelled through life together since our first year at STFXU, more than 40 years ago. We both went on to become educators, careers that reflected our shared belief in supporting, encouraging, and caring for others. Over the years, we have celebrated together, cried together, supported one another through illness and loss, and watched over each other and our families along the way.

Our lives have intertwined in so many ways, including both of us facing cancer more than once and learning what resilience truly means. Alanna has always been just a phone call away. Along with her husband, a highly respected surgeon and cancer researcher, she's someone I can turn to when I need reassurance, perspective, or simply a trusted voice. I am deeply grateful for the excellent health care I receive here in Canada, but there is comfort in being able to fact-check or ask a question of people you trust completely.

This year brings a beautiful new chapter for Alanna as she joins me in the wonderful role of grandmother, with a new baby arriving in November. My wish for her is continued good health, much joy, and many years surrounded by the people she loves and who love her.

Celebrating my Book Launch with Carolyn, to whom I dedicated RISE.

Carolyn, my sister-in-law, is another remarkable woman. As a nurse, caring for the health and well-being of others has been both her profession and part of who she is. Whenever our family faced a health concern, one of the first calls was often to Aunt Carolyn.

Carolyn quite literally helped save my life. Before I was preparing to leave for Asia to work in an international Canadian school, she strongly encouraged me to have an X-ray for persistent back pain. That X-ray changed everything. It led to my diagnosis of Stage IV breast cancer and grounded me in Canada, where I could immediately access the care I needed.

She was also on speed dial when I later broke my back. Her guidance helped me get seen quickly and ultimately allowed me to spend a winter healing in Costa Rica rather than waiting through a cold Canadian winter for a consultation.

Today, Carolyn has turned her lifelong passion for health care into something extraordinary through Luscinia Health, an all-women health care team focused on helping people access excellent care in a timely manner. It feels like a natural extension of the nurse, advocate, and caregiver she has always been.

Two birthdays. Two extraordinary women. An educator and a nurse whose lives have profoundly shaped mine.

Happy Birthday, Alanna and Carolyn. May the year ahead bring you both good health, joy, continued purpose, wonderful family moments, and all the love you have so generously given to others returned to you many times over. 💗

Self-care is the new health care.