Achi news desk-
Matthew McKinnon knew something was wrong when he went to catch a football during his high school practice in Surrey BC, in the spring of 2012 and completely missed it.
McKinnon, 28, who was in Grade 11 at the time, said he was experiencing double vision, nausea and headaches. Following that practice, his parents took him to the GP where he was prescribed anti-nausea medication which was normally only given to cancer patients.
“It was a preview of things to come,” McKinnon told Global News.
Even with medication and a visit to a chiropractor, his health rapidly declined over the next few days.
“Finally my parents decided we should go in for a CT scan where I was wrongly diagnosed with something called sinusitis, [and was] sent home with medicine. And over that weekend I had what we could only describe as fits, and my parents decided to take me back in,” he said.
That’s when a CT scan found a tumor in his brain, and he was immediately taken to BC Children’s Hospital and underwent emergency brain surgery.
“And then five days later, on Father’s Day, I had my second brain operation,” he said.
The ‘dark’ days that followed
Often, when someone is diagnosed with cancer, they find themselves navigating the illness alone, both emotionally and physically, explained Carly Fleming, a registered psychotherapist based in Hamilton, Ont.
“The word cancer is full of so much fear, and very often there can be despair,” he said, adding that this could be more convoluted when young people are diagnosed with the disease.
“You have this confluence of practical things to sort out with this deeply emotional issue. And now you have a developmental problem. So, depending on your age, there are developmental milestones, your brain isn’t fully developed yet, your relationships aren’t fully developed yet,” he said.
“The depth of that is it’s even deeper than it is when it’s a diagnosed adult.”
Matthew McKinnon in hospital following a diagnosis of brain cancer.
Matthew McKinnon
After a cancer diagnosis, Flemming said many young adults and children may find it harder to maintain friendships, cope with losses, and face the possibility of losing fertility.
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And this is where McKinnon said he found himself following his diagnosis in high school.
After his surgeries, he spent about three weeks recovering in hospital before he was able to go home. During that time, he said, a team of doctors gave him a treatment plan of 30 sessions of radiation to his head and spine, as well as six rounds of chemotherapy. This routine continued until halfway through his Grade 12 year.
During this time, McKinnon said he began to experience the life-changing effects of treatment including the permanent doubling of his vision and severe mental health challenges.
The doctors who perform an operation on McKinnon.
Matthew McKinnon
“I had plans to go [to school] for civil engineering, and I had hopes of playing football with a team I had been with since I was five years old. And all those things were immediately thrown in the air,” he said.
“It is it was disruptive and challenging. Those dark times were very, very challenging. It was the hopelessness, depression and anxiety that focused on my cancer.”
Although his treatment ended in January 2013, McKinnon said his cancer journey did not end there. For example, a social worker told him there was a possibility that he would be infertile because of the high levels of radiation he went through.
This is one of the struggles that young cancer patients have to face, says Fleming.
As a psychotherapist who works with cancer patients, she finds that many people focus on the “practical survival” of getting through the treatments. And once that ends, then comes the need to look back and try to analyze the trauma and emotional pressure that comes with cancer.
“Even under the best of circumstances, your life looks different now,” he said. “You’ve changed, you’re not the person you were pre-cancer anymore. How you travel the world can look very different.”
‘There is good to come’
Every day 655 people in Canada are diagnosed with cancer, and 238 people die from it, the Canadian Cancer Society estimates.
But there is hope and progress, thanks to better treatments and therapies. McKinnon credits better research and treatments in the cancer field for saving his life.
“When I was diagnosed in 2012, it was a 90 percent success,” he said. “If I had been diagnosed just 10 years earlier in 2002, it would have been a terminal diagnosis. So for myself, that research that was carried out in just those 10 years allowed me to still be here.”
McKinnon, who is now cancer free, acknowledged the invaluable support of his family during his treatment, as well as the support provided by the Canadian Cancer Society. Through their programs, he said there is comfort and companionship among others who share similar experiences.
Matthew McKinnon and his wife Danica.
Matthew McKinnon
He also credited the cancer diagnosis with giving him the gift of resilience.
“I want others to know that the suffering they are going through is difficult, and it is difficult and it is real, and that there is a lot of possibility to come from that. And to lean on the individuals in their lives and to recognize that sometimes we cannot see the good that could come from a difficult situation,” he said.
His cancer diagnosis led him to Ottawa where he met his wife. And despite being told he may not be able to have children, he has a two-year-old son called James.
“There is good to come. My wife Danica and I have been married for almost three years now. We met through a church here in Ottawa. And she is definitely one of the greatest joys and lights in my life, as well as our son James,” he said.
When someone is struggling with cancer, Fleming emphasizes how normal it is to feel depressed or anxious.
Matthew McKinnon, his wife Danica and their son James.
Matthew McKinnon
And while some people may not have the support of family or friends, some therapists have training experience that can help, she said.
“I’m one of those therapists. I work with a lot of them, and it can be an amazing place to find support,” she said.
“No one goes through cancer without significant emotional distress. Nobody does. And so something is not broken when a person is struggling emotionally. Not that there is some kind of big problem. That’s absolutely the norm.”
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