"In 2019, it's estimated more than 3,800 women in B.C. will be diagnosed with breast cancer. I am one of them."
When CTV News Vancouver anchor and Fraser Valley bureau chief Michele Brunoro was diagnosed, she did what she's done for much of her life: Started asking questions.
"What stage of cancer? What are the survival rates? Has it spread? The poor doctor. I must have exhausted her! I needed answers and this deadline was far more crucial than my usual rush to get a story on the six o’clock news," Michele wrote.
She braced herself for surgery, grappled with breaking the news to her children, and met with survivors. Now, she's sharing her journey with breast cancer.
Blog posts
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The pandemic has meant screening programs for breast, cervical and colon cancer for non-symptomatic people have stopped. For breast screenings alone, that’s 21,000 screenings that didn’t happen in just the first month of shut-downs.
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Even as my heart goes out to those going through treatment amid COVID-19, I feel in some ways that the lessons I learned during my cancer journey helped prepare me for this pandemic.
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I have been thinking of you. And I have been thinking about your fight against cancer amid the COVID-19 crisis.
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It’s my first day back at work in more than a year and it feels so “normal." It feels like I’m getting another piece of my life back.
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Last week, my oncologist gave me the news I have been hoping so long to hear: there are no signs of cancer in me at all. It is the best Christmas gift I could receive.
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I knew there would be many physical changes during my chemotherapy treatments, but I wasn't expecting the cognitive ones.
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It’s a cancer drug given to thousands of patients in B.C. and right across the country, myself included. But Health Canada now says there's a national shortage of the medication.
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Brendan Whieldon was just five years old when I met him, and already in the fight of his life.
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I'm not bald anymore! But there are some other lingering side effects from my chemotherapy treatments.
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I’m in the chemo room for my weekly ritual. On the surface, everything is routine. Same questions from my nurse. Same meds. And yet, this isn’t just another treatment day.
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After surgery, I was surprised not only by how weak the arm on my surgery side had become but how much movement I had lost in it. Simple stretches had become incredibly difficult.
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It feels like something that could happen in a fictional spy or crime movie – characters whose fingerprints vanish.
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My friend Sharon Zastowny died only about two months after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
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Reaching the halfway point in her chemotherapy treatments, CTV's Michele Brunoro reflects on all she's grateful for.
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I told myself before I began my treatment for breast cancer that as long as I was physically able, I would exercise every day on this journey.
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Sometimes we luck out. Sometimes, we end up blessed with life-long friends.
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I don’t like needles. I mean, who does? But when my oncologist says I can take a month off my chemo treatments for breast cancer if I give myself injections in my stomach, I do a fast attitude adjustment.
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I can't wait to have a shoulder-length head of hair again. But I also know this: I am not defined by the hair on my head.
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I suddenly like my hair. A lot. It’s the same head of hair I have wished so many times could look like someone else’s.
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I want to be strong. Fierce. But if I am honest with you, I am afraid in this moment.
