Sydney Breneol

PhD Candidate, School of Nursing

At no point did I think it was going to be a tumour or anything like that. No one had ever said that word to me.

It was in January of 2010 when I found a lump underneath my right jaw. I was in Grade 10. I had mono when I was in middle school, so I’d always get big lymph nodes when I’d get sick. My mom and I didn’t think much of it. But I went to the doctor and my family physician prescribed me antibiotics. It never went away. At no point did I think it was going to be a tumour or anything like that. No one had ever said that word to me.

I had the whole tumour surgically removed from under my jaw. It was a whirlwind. By this time, it had been a little less than a month since I had first discovered the lump. Once I had the surgery, I was referred to the IWK because at my home hospital in PEI they were pretty certain from what they could see that it was cancerous. The IWK took over my care from there. Within a couple weeks, I started chemo and I was diagnosed with Burkitt’s Lymphoma, which is a form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

I had an amazing group of friends that stuck by me. They would come over to Halifax every weekend that they could. That was pivotal. I have no idea what I’d do without them, my mom, and my whole family. It’s incredible to see people rise and come together. Even the community in PEI did a lot of fundraising for me. They knew my mom was a single parent. They really did so much for me. They showed me they were there if I needed anything at all.

This year marks 10 years since my diagnosis. After I finished treatment, I got a wish from Children’s Wish, and I went to an elephant orphanage in Kenya and bought a ring there. It got stolen just over a year ago. I was really upset about it. Earlier this year, my friends actually came together and gave me a ring that looked exactly like it. They all wrote individual notes reflecting back to us at 15 years old and celebrating 10 years of what we’ve all done and how we’ve all grown. It just brought us together so closely. My situation changed their outlook on life, and it changed mine, too.

I had this one nurse at the IWK. She was wonderful. She knew that I didn’t sleep very well at night and so she tried to keep me company as much as she could in addition to her clinical duties. If the nights were slow for her, I remember she would come by. She loved Dancing with the Stars and so she told the nurses that she was coming into my room and to come get her if they needed anything. She was taking care of all of her other patients. I remember her running in and out. I remember she kicked off her shoes, they were the typical white leather nursing shoes. She would watch Dancing with the Stars with me. She had a timer, so she knew when to run out and check on her other patients. For me, that was incredible. It was this sense of relief that somebody was there truly caring for me and building that caring relationship in the middle of the night when I couldn’t sleep.

When I came over to do my Master of Nursing, I knew I wanted to do work at the IWK. I definitely felt a strong draw. I’ve been really lucky to that my supervisor is embedded as a clinical scientist as well as a faculty member in the School of Nursing. She has helped me to really start to connect myself in the Health Centre and to start doing my research. My original research proposal, when I was writing it up to apply to Dal, was all about that reintegration piece. How do you reintegrate into your life post-cancer? Once I got over here, my supervisor was doing research around children with medical complexity transitioning from hospital to home and how we can better support them in their home communities. It was a perfect fit and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since, focusing on the services needed to help these individuals and families thrive in their communities and homes.

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