Dominique Langevin's Story
My name is Dominique. On October 27, 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, I received a call that forever changed my life: I had just been diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, which was progressing rapidly.
I was 44 years old. I had an eight-year-old at home. I was lucky! I began treatment almost immediately and received incredible care from my oncologist, Dr. Jamil Asselah, and the medical team at the Cedars Cancer Center of the MUHC. Because of this, I am here today. I am extremely grateful, for everything. When I think about what I have been through these last few months, I remember a conversation with Dr. Asselah, during which he told me that when he started in oncology, women who were in the state I was when we first met did not survive this cancer. They died.
I did 16 rounds of chemo. I had surgery. I received 19 rounds of radiation. And today, I am considered cancer free. I am healthy and I am enjoying life! I want to give back. Research changed my life! Not only did it save my life, but it also made treatment easier to go through, as I enjoyed a decent quality of life throughout. It matters!!!!
During and after treatment, I also received support from the staff at Cedars CanSupport. Cancer changes you. It is challenging. The staff at Cedars CanSupport understands this really well and offers resources, support, and encouragement to patients, their families and care-givers alike, throughout the cancer journey. It makes a difference, to feel understood, listened to, accompanied…especially now, with COVID and the isolation it creates for cancer patients. For these reasons, because research opens up new opportunities, because it saves lives and improves the quality of life during treatment, and because support services help ease the challenges of going through cancer for both cancer patients and their families and care givers, I want to be involved in increasing awareness. I want to do my part. As such, I want to support the research initiatives put forward by my oncologist, Dr. Asselah, and his partners, and I want to contribute to the mission of Cedars CanSupport of providing support services to the cancer community.
I thought that this might be a good time to launch my first initiative. A year ago, on April 19, I was receiving my last dose of chemo. This year, on this same day, I will have successfully reintegrated my workplace and will be back at work full time! To mark the occasion, I decided to collect donations throughout the month of April in support of Dr. Jamil Asselah’s Medical Oncology Research & Care Fund. Your donations to my fundraiser will not go unappreciated. Together, let’s give ourselves the best possible outcomes for the future!