“Words Matter” – Lisa Vescio Shares Her Story at the Tbaytel Luncheon of Hope
Published Monday, October 17, 2022
by Graham Strong
The words you use matter. That was one of Lisa Vescio’s key messages when she spoke at the Tbaytel Luncheon of Hope Thursday afternoon at the Victoria Inn and Conference Centre.
Lisa said that she never wanted to use phrases like “battle with breast cancer” or “cancer survivor.” In fact, she didn’t want to say the word cancer at all. Lisa wasn’t in denial – quite the opposite. She knew exactly how she felt about her diagnosis and how she was going to deal with it. For one, she wanted to take away its power by refusing to speak its name.
“Many people describe their journeys as a battle or a struggle,” Lisa said. “No, I couldn’t do that – that would put my body in a state of constant tension, ready for the battle. I wasn’t battling it. I was beating it. So I pushed it all to the end of my breast, and when my breast got cut off, so did all the bad stuff.”
She also decided not to give in to any negativity including reading about all the worst-case scenarios from “Dr. Google” or on social media.
“Don’t share the ugly stories with me,” Lisa said. “We as human beings inherently go to the negative side – the most fearful side. I had to try really hard not to do that.”
Instead, she balanced fear with logic, and just got on with getting better.
“I said, ‘Okay, cancer is prevalent in so many people, but often it’s not a death sentence anymore.’ I decided I didn’t have to plan for my demise. So I looked at it a different way – I looked at it as a different normal. I focused on the day-to-day challenges of just getting better.”
One of those challenges was learning to let go. “I’m a bit of a control freak, so it was difficult to just let someone else take care of the laundry,” Lisa said with a laugh. But in the long run, she realized that her lists of things that “needed” to get done didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things. She also learned that it’s okay to ask for help along the way.
Lisa was movingly honest about her treatment and recovery. “It was not pleasant. Losing your hair and your eyebrows – you don’t realize how much your hair protects you from the heat.” She said she tried wigs, but found them too hot, ultimately opting for scarves and hats instead. That was just one of the many challenges. “All the things you go through – it’s not pleasant.”
One thing she was most grateful for was the fact that she could get all her cancer care right here in Thunder Bay. “Thank goodness I was able to do it here. I was able to go home to my own bed, and I had my family and friends around me if I needed them. I can’t imagine doing all that from a hotel room. It would have been horrible.”
She was also honest about the fact that it’s a time in her life she’d rather not dwell on. “This is the first time I’ve thought about it in six years. I never think about it.”
But when Melody Lavallee, Events Coordinator at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation, asked Lisa to speak at the Tbaytel Luncheon of Hope, she saw it as an opportunity to help the community.
“There are people out there who are still scared. I want to just tell them that, ‘This is who I am, this is what I did.’ Maybe my story is going to mean something to somebody. And if someone wants to reach out to me to talk about my experience because it might help them – well, I’m available for that.”
Did you miss the Tbaytel Luncheon of Hope? You can still give to the Northern Cancer Fund to support local cancer care. Please visit: healthsciencesfoundation.ca/donate