Vlogger shares cancer battle

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This article was published 12/01/2019 (2556 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Brandon woman battling cancer for the second time is sharing her life with the world, in a video log on YouTube.

Lisa Mitchell has metastatic bone cancer, which has coursed its way through much of her body. Doctors don’t really know how long she has to live, but it could be “plus or minus five years,” she said Thursday.

“At the time, I was very angry about it,” Mitchell said. “But it is what it is.”

Mitchell, 48, worked at CIBC for 25 years before her second battle with cancer sidelined her last April. She is now on long-term disability.

“What people don’t understand is, when you’re not ready not to be working, it’s a real shock on the system,” she said. “It’s not like I’m not working because I won 6/49. I’m not working because I’m just not well enough to do so.”

She and husband Russ have no children, and her whole life started to revolve around medical appointments.

That’s when Russ talked her into starting a vlog to help her cope with not being at work anymore — that, and a 45-minute video friends and family put together to convince her to do it.

“That video is very dear to me,” she said.

On Christmas Day, while streaming the video on Facebook, Russ presented her with equipment to produce her vlogs.

After a couple of tear-filled tries, Mitchell was finally able to put together a nine-minute, 45-second video in which she introduces herself to viewers.

As of Thursday, more than 1,200 people had viewed her vlog.

Mitchell was first diagnosed with cancer in 2014, after she noticed a lump in her left breast. At first, she and the doctor agreed not to do anything about it, since there was no history of cancer in her family. Five months later, in November, she went back to see the doctor while getting ready for a trip to England. The lump was still there, and she didn’t like it.

A mammogram was performed, and while none of the staff told her, “I knew when I left the hospital it was cancer.”

She had a lumpectomy to remove the tumour, as well as four lymph nodes, on New Year’s Eve.

That wasn’t to bring an end to it, though.

In January 2018, Mitchell found another lump and went for a CT scan. The cancer had returned. The scan also picked up spots on her liver.

“That began the adventure that I am currently on,” she said.

Mitchell is undergoing hormone therapy that includes a drug — Kisqali, more commonly known as ribociclib — through CancerCare Manitoba that is so new she is the only one in Brandon currently on it.

“I’m doing well on it,” she said. “I’m on round four right now, and so far so good, fingers crossed.”

Mitchell said that while the first vlog was just an introduction of herself, she hopes future videos will be about things that are happening in her life and make her happy — like snowmobiling.

She and Russ are hoping to produce a vlog at least once a month.

“I’m doing it more for me,” Mitchell said.

At the same time, she said, “I want to share it with people, and people can take away from that whatever they like. If it inspires somebody, fantastic — that makes me happy.”

Everyone deals with cancer in their own way, Mitchell added, “and this is my way. If it helps somebody else, or gives them encouragement, or a light at the end of the tunnel — whatever you want to say — then great.

“And if it’s just one person, then I guess I’ve succeeded.”

You can view Mitchell’s vlog at bit.ly/2CqVjbQ.

» brobertson@brandonsun.com

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