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A Call from Greatness by Jamie Irvine

Posted on April 21, 2017 by Kelly Zorzi

In the spirit of playoff season, I want to share my little brush with hockey fame when I was going through cancer treatment at just 11 years old.

When I was six years old, my family moved from Saudi Arabia back to Canada. Coming from the desert, I had never experienced winter before, let alone this otherworldly-like game called hockey. I was immediately hooked.

I had great dreams of one day joining the NHL myself, dreams that were quickly dashed after my first attempts at learning to skate resulted in such highlights as me crashing into walls while trying to stop and throwing up after drinking too much hot chocolate. Soon my passion focused on collecting hockey cards and watching the game on TV. It was my personal goal to collect every card or watch every game that even mentioned Wayne Gretzky.

When I was 10 years old, I was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. To say that my early days of treatment were difficult would be a gross understatement. In truth I was defeated and had given up hope. Then one day, out of the blue, I received a call to my hospital room.

“Is this Jamie Irvine?” said the male voice on the other end of the phone.
“Yes,” I said.
“This is Wayne Gretzky.”

And so the conversation began, lasting between 5-10 minutes, but honestly everything is a blur after he said his name. I was in pure euphoria.

A few weeks passed and I received a care package in the mail from Wayne himself. It was full of signed pictures and various other goodies. All of which I still treasure to this day.

Pretty cool story, right? Well it doesn’t end there. A few years later, my family had moved to Newmarket, Ontario, and I had just finished an experimental treatment and was given the all clear. I attended Camp Oochigeas that summer and met a man named Gordon (Gordo) MacKay. He happened to share my passion for all things Gretzky and after I told him my story, he revealed that he had helped design Wayne Gretzky’s restaurant in Toronto. He invited my family to a free meal at the restaurant and I was shown the “secret” storage room full of Gretzky memorabilia. Gordo let me try on some of the Gretzky jerseys and gloves while my brother got to try on some of Michael Jordan’s game worn shoes. Fun fact: Wayne Gretzky and Michael Jordan would occasionally exchange skates and shoes.

For me, Gretzky’s title “The Great One” goes beyond his hockey record. He was willing to reach out to a sick child who was feeling defeated and offer the support only a hero like him could provide. And for that, I am forever grateful.

To this day, Wayne Gretzky remains my favourite player of all time and my passion for hockey has not waned. Of course, these days I cheer for our home team.

#GoLeafsGo!


Posted in This is My Story | Tagged emotional health, Jamie Irvine

Dr. Sean Phipps: Post Traumatic Stress vs Growth in Pediatric Oncology

Posted on March 31, 2017 by Kelly Zorzi

The traumatic stress model starts with the assumption that cancer is a traumatic event, and people often think of children with cancer as having depression or post-traumatic stress. But that is not always the case.

Dr. Sean Phipps and his team discovered that for some survivors their personal function actually improved as a result of their cancer experience.

Sean Phipps, PhD is the Chair of Psychology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. He spoke at the 2013 POGO Multi-Disciplinary Symposium on Childhood Cancer.

Straight Talk about Childhood Cancer is POGO’s new series of video shorts featuring the insights of experts whose leading-edge work impacts the care, treatment and quality of life of childhood cancer patients, survivors and their families.

Posted in 2013 Symposium - Innovation in Pediatric Oncology, Straight Talk Videos | Tagged 2013 Symposium, childhood cancer survivors, Dr Sean Phipps, emotional health, post-traumatic growth, post-traumatic stress, psychological distress, survivorship

Still Standing by Jamie Irvine

Posted on January 20, 2017 by Kelly Zorzi

Jamie holding one of his TWO diplomas with honours

#BellLetsTalk #mentalhealthawareness

My cancer was discovered late. Doctors estimated that even with a bone marrow transplant my odds were still only 55% at best.

Three years of treatment (including two failed bone marrow transplants) resulted in a plethora of late effects: cataracts, preset osteoporosis, stunted growth, damage to my pancreas, changes in my skin pigmentation and a few others. That said, for me the worst part was not the effects on my body but the mental impact of it all. There was the feeling of isolation that came with being a kid in cancer treatment during my formative years; the fear of relapse and believing I was just on “borrowed time”; the self-deprecating thoughts that I didn’t earn my grades, my teachers just pitied me; and finally, the guilt of surviving when others did not.

Many of us childhood cancer survivors know at least one person who did not make it. I actually know a few but the one who stands out for me is Andy. Andy came to our school in grade 10 after just having finished treatment for leukemia. I thought we would bond over our shared cancer experience, but it turned out Andy wasn’t interested in talking about his illness. Still we became fast friends. In grade 12 when he relapsed, doctors gave him a low chance of survival. He decided to forgo treatment and within a few months, Andy passed away. I remember when I got the news one of the first things to pop into my head was, “I wish it was me.” To this day, the guilt of that being one of my first thoughts has etched itself into my brain and soul.

When high school ended, I decided to push the negative thoughts deep down. At that time, I decided to go to college for social work. I often tell people that I chose the field because I wanted to give something back for all the help I received. In reality that is only partially true. The other reason was that I wanted to make sure no other kid turned out like me.

After completing a Bachelor’s in Social Work from Carleton University, I was only able to get part-time work. I was seriously underemployed and despite my efforts, had difficulty launching a full-time career. All of those negative thoughts started to bubble to the top. The voice in the back of my mind told me I was broken and worthless and within a short period, I started to believe it. I secretly wished that I had died during my treatment or that I would develop a secondary cancer. I had hit rock bottom.

It was during a routine checkup at Princess Margaret Hospital that I met a nurse practitioner who sensed something was off and asked some questions. It was the first time in years that someone in the healthcare field seemed to care about my mental state (not just the physical) and it just all came bursting out. She recommended therapy and gave me the contact information for the survivor care program at POGO.

With a few months, my confidence started to grow. I was volunteering at POGO and I started to get interviews with government agencies and major non-profits. Even though I was not hired, I always received great feedback and was often told that I was within the top three final candidates.

Soon a position opened up at POGO and I was recommended for the job. To my surprise, I got it and now work as an Administrative Assistant to the POGO Financial Assistance Program. Even though I still have moments where negative thoughts creep into my mind, I feel as if this is where I belong and thanks to my supervisor and the other POGO staff, I continue to grow both on a personal and professional level.

I now know that I am not worthless and broken. And although treatment has left me physically and mentally battered and bruised, I am still standing.

For more on survivor guilt, read Leanne Brown’s story The Burden of Surviving Childhood Cancer.

Posted in This is My Story | Tagged emotional health, Jamie Irvine, mental health

Dr. Christopher Recklitis: Emotional Health After Childhood Cancer

Posted on December 1, 2016 by Kelly Zorzi

For many patients, the childhood cancer experience takes them away from school, hobbies and friends and thrusts them into the adult world.

In his talk Emotional Health After Childhood Cancer, Dr. Christopher Recklitis stresses the importance of talking to your healthcare professionals about how to maintain balance between regular life and treatment.

Christopher Recklitis, PhD, MPH, is the Director of Research and Supportive Services at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School in Boston. He spoke at POGO’s 2013 Survivor Conference: Life after Childhood Cancer.

Straight Talk about Childhood Cancer is POGO’s series of video shorts featuring the insights of experts whose leading-edge work impacts the care, treatment and quality of life of childhood cancer patients, survivors and their families.

Posted in 2013 Survivor Conference, Education for Survivors, Straight Talk Videos | Tagged 2013 Survivor Conference, childhood cancer survivors, Dr Christopher Recklitis, emotional health, late effects, psychological distress, psychosocial, survivorship

Current Status of Screening for Emotional Distress

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Jamie Irvine

VIEW THE PRESENTATION

Presentation Description:
Routine screening for emotional distress has been identified as a standard of care for all cancer patients. However, identifying appropriate screening measures that have both clinical and research utility is not a simple undertaking. What information to collect, how to collect it, and how to use the information to improve clinical care are all questions to be taken into consideration. Dr. Madeline Li is the creator of the Distress Assessment and Response Tool (DART) that has been used since 2010 at the Princess Margaret Cancer Center. She will provide a brief overview of the development and implementation of DART. Adolescents and young adults with cancer (age 15-39, AYA) are recognized to have unique psychosocial issues and distress screening must be tailored to assess their specific concerns. Dr. D’Agostino will present the adaptation of DART for AYA and she will give a brief overview of work being done internationally to develop an AYA-specific distress screening tool.

Speakers:
Madeline Li, MD, PhD
Psychiatrist, Department of Supportive Care
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Dr. Li is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry, University Health Network, University of Toronto and a psychiatrist in Psychosocial Oncology, Department of Supportive Care, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. In addition to clinical practice in cancer psychiatry, she conducts collaborative research in the areas of psychoneuroimmunology and psychosocial cancer research. She has authored several publications, guidelines and interprofessional education resources on the topic of management for anxiety and depression in cancer patients. She has served as a Psychosocial Oncology Clinical Lead in Toronto for Cancer Care Ontario, and is the developer and physician lead of the Distress Assessment and Response Tool (DART) program at Princess Margaret.

Norma D’Agostino, Ph.D., C.Psych.
Clinical Health Psychologist, University Health Network
Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto

Dr. D’Agostino is a Staff Psychologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. She is a registered psychologist with the College of Psychologists in Ontario and holds an appointment as Lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto.

Dr. D’Agostino has over 10 years of professional experience in pediatric and adult psychosocial oncology. Her clinical work and research focuses on young adults with cancer, including long-term survivors of childhood cancer. The goals of her work are to create developmentally appropriate psycho-social resources for adolescent and young adults with cancer, optimizing the transition process of emerging adulthood, and exploring how the illness experience in early life influences psychosocial adjustment and development across the life-span.

Posted in 2016 AfterCare Education Day | Tagged 2016 AfterCare, emotional health

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