Not long after this picture was taken my mom would go to the doctor with concerns of episodes she was having where she was conscious of things happening around her, but unable to talk or move. Scans were taken and she was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Almost certainly cancerous, and almost certainly incurable.

She was in her early 30s with two young children. I have no memory of this picture or this time in my life. We moved from Kamloops, BC to Vancouver so she could undergo months of radiation to try and slow the growth of the cancer. Once finished with all that could be done there we moved back home where my mom was determined to live life as best as she could.

And so I spent most of my time with her never knowing that she had cancer. My memories are of us camping in our tent trailer; trips to Yellowstone, San Diego and San Francisco; going cross-country skiing; spending beautiful, sunny summer days in our yard eating ice cream; and her excitedly driving us up to Aberdeen Mall to buy a record so we could dance to it in the living room.

A few months before her 40th birthday she underwent surgery to try and remove some of the tumur, and about six months after that she passed away. My sister was 10 and I was 12.

Just after my 40th birthday I went to my family doctor with vague concerns, most notably a worrying amount of unintentional weight loss. I had seen my doctor maybe three times before – of which two times were follow-ups after my pregnancies. I considered myself a very healthy person and have never had any issues.

Blood tests found nothing out of the ordinary, except for extremely high platelets. Platelets are what help your blood clot and are normally in the 150,000 to 400,000 range. Mine were over 2 million. I was referred to a hematologist and at my first appointment I was diagnosed with essential thrombocythemia, an incurable blood cancer due to an acquired gene mutation in the bone marrow. I was immediately directed to the Cross Cancer Institute next door and told I would need to start hydroxyurea, a low-dose anti-cancer pill. I had gone to the appointment alone, not expecting much to happen, let alone a cancer diagnosis with a chemotherapy prescription. As I drove myself home, the pills in a small white paper bag beside me, I thought about my mom. And of my two kids, aged 10 and 12.

My mom decided to be more than her cancer diagnosis, and so she left me with probably the greatest gift of all: a path forward for myself with my own, albeit much less serious, cancer diagnosis.

My journey began at same the age hers ended. My children are now 13 and 15. We camp in our motorhome, went on a much-anticipated trip to Denmark to visit family, go downhill skiing and on biking adventures, and spend beautiful sunny summer days at my dad and Darlene’s home in the Shuswap picking strawberries in the garden and paddle boarding on the lake.

The Sole 2 Soul for MPN trek is the perfect next step for my journey. To meet others, share stories, and together navigate the ups and downs of the ground under our feet as we choose to move forward on the path presented to us.