'You are not alone': Women in Inuvik start cancer support group

It was the spring of 2017 when Agnes Pascal-Stewart attended her first cancer support group meeting.

After about two years of battling breast cancer, the Inuvik resident had just found out she was in remission.

"Something like this would have been so beneficial for me while I was going through my cancer treatments," she said.

That group fizzled, but Pascal-Stewart did have other support. Friends and family in both Fort McPherson and Inuvik helped her get through the hard times during her cancer treatment.

In particular, she had two good friends who had also gone through breast cancer.

"I felt like those two were my strongest supporters," she said.

Those feelings led Pascal-Stewart to team up with fellow Inuvik resident Ruth Wright, creating a new monthly support group in Inuvik where cancer patients, survivors, loved ones and caregivers could meet up and share their stories.

First meetings

She and Wright got some information from the Gwich'in Tribal Council on how to run a cancer support group and hosted their first meeting on Oct. 23.

David Malcolm has attended the first two get-togethers so far with his wife Sandra.

He was first diagnosed with kidney cancer in November 2015, but found out the day after the first meeting that he was cancer-free.

"I think it's very helpful because for people like me who fortunately are now in remission, it's a chance for us to tell others about my journey and give them some hope," he said.

Malcolm said the group is important because it gives people a place to share their concerns and express their feelings, including those who support cancer patients.

"Sandra [was] completely overwhelmed with working normal work days and yet having to come home and care for me, and trying to figure out how to keep me alive," he said.

"So it's just as hard on the caregiver, or harder I believe, as it is on the patient."

Wright has lost many family members and friends to cancer, including her six-year-old sister Ruby-Ann, who died when Wright was only 12.

She said that experience was an "eye-opener," and partly why she and Pascal-Stewart are also hoping to hold information booths at school during events.

"There are people whose kids are just so scared," she said.

"It would be good if the children just know there is somebody out there to help them, answer their questions or just listen to what they have to say."

So far, there have been about 11 to 15 attendees at each of the first two meetings.

Pascal-Stewart said she wants those who may be nervous about attending to know "there is no pressure ... Just sit back and listen, and know you are not alone."

Pascal-Stewart and Wright plan to travel in the new year to get some training from the Canada Cancer Foundation in order to better facilitate the group.

The next meeting will be held at Ingamo Hall on Dec. 4.