Joanne Falvai and her husband, Mark, ordered in a family-favourite, Thai food, one night in 2020 – after which they broke it to their three boys that their mom had brain cancer. As the news settled in, Joanne recalls the reaction of her then 9-year-old twins and 12-year-old.
“I don’t know who said it first, but they were like, ‘Oh, great. Now mom’s gonna add ‘cancer survivor’ to her resume of greatness.’ We joke a lot about me playing the ‘cancer card’ when it suits me.”
The Falvai family’s unshakable sense of humour kept the Vancouver Island University criminology professor buoyed throughout her surgery, chemotherapy and radiation, much of which required her to travel from their home in Qualicum Beach to BC Cancer – Victoria.
But it was BC Cancer’s supportive care that got her through the mental health side-effects of her treatment. To increase access to these essential services, the BC Cancer Foundation has launched a historic $15-million fundraising campaign to purchase a new building, the BC Cancer – Victoria Integrated Care and Research Pavilion and support cutting-edge research and clinical trials on the Island.
Depression and anxiety are common in cancer patients. And while lifesaving, chemotherapy, radiation and other therapies can initiate psychiatric side effects such as anger, irritability and fatigue. For Joanne, a drug intended to shrink the swelling in her brain resulted in agitation and insomnia.
“I would go to bed at 10 p.m. and wake up at 1:30 a.m. I couldn’t sleep,” she says, and so she spoke with her oncologist who referred her to a psychiatrist. “She was incredible and helped me get back on track.”
In addition to psychiatry, the new building will enable BC Cancer to expand on other supportive care services – such as patient and family counselling, hereditary counselling, medical genetics and nutrition – to improve quality of life and survivorship for patients.
As the first fully donor-funded BC Cancer building, the convenient location – just 250 metres from the existing cancer centre – will allow staff to work seamlessly between the two buildings. The proximity for patients is something Joanne appreciates as she experienced movement and balance issues and couldn’t tolerate being in the car for very long.
Now cancer free, Joanne admits, “I look back at the photos of my partially shaved hair and this giant scary scar on the back of my head and think, ‘How did we ever get through it?’”
It was thanks to support, she says. From family, friends, neighbours, colleagues – even a few strangers – and her dedicated team at BC Cancer.
Donate today to help create more space for support and holistic cancer care at BC Cancer – Victoria for the 6,000 Vancouver Island residents diagnosed each year at bccancerfoundation.com/vancouver-island