“Putting a face on survivorship”
Aylesford cancer survivor says the experience changed his outlook on life for the better
When he looks back on his lifethreatening battle with cancer, Ray Savage recognizes that it represented a significant turning point in his life.
The Aylesford man was diagnosed with stage-four Hodgkin’s lymphoma on May 3, 1992. He was 32 years old.
Savage had a mass intertwined throughout his lung about the size of his fist.
“They didn’t give me a whole lot of hope at that time, about 30 per cent odds,” Savage said. “Well, here I am 26 years later. I’m still kicking, just not as high as I used to.”
He remembers sitting with his doctor when he received the diagnosis. He said they don’t like to tell you what your odds are, but Savage “squeezed it out of him.”
The thought that he had cancer and might die didn’t really sink in. Instead, he thought, “This thing isn’t going to get me.”
He remembers asking the doctor, “What do I have to do to get rid of it?” He began focusing on what he needed to do to survive it.
Savage said he was lucky to have a doctor renowned for his work with lymphoma patients set up his chemotherapy protocol just before the doctor relocated to British Columbia.
“I still say, to this day, that had I not had the positive attitude that I did, I wouldn’t have survived,” Savage said.
During the ordeal, and as time went on, Savage was sometimes called upon to sit down with other cancer patients to share his story and help them through the struggle. There was one fellow he remembers who had a reasonable prognosis but who resigned himself to the fact that he had cancer and was dying. Within about six months, the man passed away.
“He basically just went home
and literally closed the drapes in his house, stayed in his house and just waited for it to take him,” Savage said.
Cancer rates across the Annapolis Valley and the province seem to be on the rise, Savage says, and wonders if the jet stream carrying pollutants from more westerly areas of the continent over Nova Scotia, which has been referred to as the “tailpipe of North America,” isn’t the cause.
Helping others
Savage believes part of our purpose is to help each other where and when we can. He’s been heavily involved in the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life events in Kentville, other Valley communities and at Acadia University in recent years.
It’s important to him because it’s “putting a face on survivorship,” something that he says is important to celebrate. He loves seeing young people, such as the Acadia students, rallying around the cause. It gives him hope for the future.
The former Relay for Life chairman has stepped aside to let new blood take over the event but remains involved. He’ll be building the giant luminary for the upcoming Kentville event on June 9 and will be participating on one of the teams.
Savage has always enjoyed sitting with people who have or had the disease and, if possible, giving them a glimmer of hope and helping them feel better about it. After all, there is potential for survival and you can have a good, full life after cancer.
The positives
Another memory that resonates with him is being thanked profusely by the family members of a cancer patient who had just passed away. Savage had spent a lot of time visiting and talking to the woman.
“I just had a few conversations with her and I didn’t think I had made such an impact but they were just so thankful that I had spent that time with her and that I had given her hope, so it kind of helped with her positive attitude even though she didn’t make it,” Savage said.
In retrospect, he believes his battle with cancer was perhaps the best thing that ever happened to him. It truly changed his life.
“As a young man, I was always chasing the buck and looking for the next deal and always looking out for Ray,” Savage said.
After going through his own battle, surviving and working with other people afflicted with cancer, his outlook on giving back to society and individuals changed.
“I really got involved in the community and helping others after that so, in retrospect, it was a good thing,” Savage said.