A family’s long battle against a recurring disease

By Joel Wittnebel/The Oshawa Express

Sometimes, you want the odds to be in your favour such as when you’re picking up a lottery ticket or betting on a hockey game for instance.

Other times, you wish those numbers would just simply prove meaningless.

Such is the case for many Canadians when they see the latest number from the Canadian Cancer Society that says two in every five Canadians will deal with cancer in their lifetime – approximately 500 people hear the c-word every day in their doctor’s office. One in four Canadians will die from the disease.

For Oshawa’s Janet Roth, 58, the numbers proved all too clear when it came to her small family of five.

The first experience

Roth, now a registered nurse and the clinical practice leader in the emergency department at Rouge Valley Centenary in Scarborough, grew up in Prince Edward County with her three sisters and two brothers.

When she was in Grade 8, Roth’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. This would be Roth’s first encounter with the disease.

“You didn’t hear a lot about cancers back then, and when you did hear about it, it was always something terrible,” she says.

“I still remember being pulled out of the classroom by my teacher because they had received a call in the office and my father was picking me up to go to the hospital…I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.”

Roth’s mother underwent a radical mastectomy and was gone for a long time, receiving treatments at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto and staying in their lodge.

Her mother would beat the disease, but her father would not be so lucky.

In the 1980s, Roth’s father was diagnosed with lung cancer. He also underwent treatment at Princess Margaret, but he would pass away at the age of 56.

Return of the disease

Cancer once again reared its head for the Roth family in 1996. Roth’s husband was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was 38 years old at the time.

“We had two young sons and when you get diagnosed with something like that, it’s pretty life-altering and traumatic,” Roth said.

Roth’s husband received chemotherapy treatments to battle the disease and eventually beat it.

Roth has now been married to her high school sweetheart for 35 years

However, six short years later, in 2002, Roth’s middle son, at the age of 28, was diagnosed with cancer, this time with Hodgkins lymphoma.

The disease is not genetic.

“The hardest was my son,” she says. “It doesn’t matter how old they are. They’re still your children…I thought, okay Lord, enough already.”

Her son also endured the chemo treatments and has been cancer free for a year now.

Roth says she doesn’t see her experience as unfair or question why her family members have had to endure the terrible disease – she is only thankful her family faired as well as they did.

“There are others that don’t do so well,” she says.

Now, Roth says she appreciates life more and doesn’t stress on the small problems in life.

“You have to be thankful for everything you have because you just don’t know, you don’t know what tomorrow is going to bring,” she says. “One day, everything is fine and the next it’s, ‘Oh, you have cancer.’”

Walking for change

For the second year, Roth will be walking and fundraising for the OneWalk to Conquer Cancer, benefits of which go to the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. This year, it’s a 25-kilometre walk through the streets of Toronto.

Roth says it’s events like these that made the survival of her husband and son possible.

“The only reason that my husband and my son have done so well is because there are researchers out there that are able to come up with treatments to help the survival rates,” she says.

Roth says she’s already training for the long walk, but recalls that sometimes during the walk, the emotions are all that keep you going, especially during the stretch that passes directly in front of Princess Margaret.

“There are just no words to describe how emotional you get walking by there and staff are out there and clapping and cheering you, it doesn’t matter how much your feet hurt or how tired you are, you just feel so­‑ I don’t know, it’s just really emotional,” Roth says.

The odds may not have been in the favour of Roth’s family, but she says it’s not only about them, but helping anyone who encounters the disease in their lifetime.

“Cancer isn’t going away, and if I can do even one little wee bit to help end the disease, or at least help so that people will live longer lives, or more fulfilling lives while dealing with the disease, it’s worthwhile.”

The OneWalk gets underway on September 12. To help Janet’s fundraising efforts, visit the OneWalk website at www.onewalk.ca and search for Janet Roth under the donations tab.

Those looking to register can also do so through the event’s website.