On Nov. 7, 2019, Judy Marie Ong of St. John’s, NL was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer.
It then spread to her lungs and liver, and by the third week of January 2020, she started chemotherapy — right as “snowmaggedon” – a record-breaking snowfall - hit the region.
Just before flights halted, her younger sister arrived from Vancouver, B.C. for a surprise visit.
“Ten years later, you decide to come in and visit because I got cancer?” jokes Ong, who moved to Newfoundland from Vancouver.
Carol Ong joined the recovery efforts, bagging Sobeys groceries, meeting neighbours and helping traffic.
“She was really impressed with how everyone worked together instead of rushing and pushing each other,” said Ong.
When flights resumed, her sister and mother switched places taking care of her, and treatments ran until May.
“It was hard, but not as hard as what I've heard of others going through chemo,” said Ong, who celebrated her 50th birthday in June. “And there's a lot of people out there who don't have a mom or anyone who's there for them. So, I count my blessings on a daily basis.”
The oncologist warned that the cancer would return, and it did — in August. An unbearable headache resulted in an ambulance ride to the hospital, where it was revealed that she had a golf ball-sized tumour in her brain.
“I was on a boat on the Saturday, and then I was in the hospital on the Monday,” said Ong. “See how quick things happened?”
The emergency surgery happened two days later, on Aug. 12. It was her mother’s 70th birthday, and a compassionate surgeon called her personally when it finished. Ong went home two days later without complications.
Until the pandemic started, volunteers - often people with a connection to cancer - used to drive patients like Ong to and from the hospital.
“You don't realize how many people go through cancer until you actually have cancer,” said Ong, who plans to volunteer someday. “You go to the hospital and you see so many people going through treatments. It’s always full and it's scary to know that you don't see it until you are actually touched by it.”
Now, she is ready to put her Christmas tree up - “I don’t care what anybody says!” - and take on the rest of 2020 and beyond.
“No matter what happens now, if I want to do something, I'm going to do it,” she said. “I'm not going to hold back because I don't know what tomorrow is going to bring.”
UPDATE: Since this story was first published in October, Ong had another relapse just when her steroid treatment finished. On Nov. 24 two tumours were discovered under the same spot in her brain. She is waiting for MRI results from Dec. 3.
"I’m doing the best I can and nothing beats positivity," she wrote in a message.
#Because2020 is a series of stories of challenges, oddities and strange connections that have happened to East Coast residents this year.
