Staying Positive When Fighting Cancer

Oct 1, 2018 | 3:52 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — With October being Breast Cancer Awareness month, cancer survivor, Terri Phipps, is sharing her story and encouraging others to stay positive during their fight. 

In 2001, Phipps was diagnosed with breast cancer. After a mastectomy, she was cancer free until 2003 when she was diagnosed with skin cancer. After five procedures, Phipps was cancer free again. Then in 2012, Phipps was diagnosed with lung cancer and while receiving treatment, doctors found bone cancer in her spine.

After radiation treatments in Vancouver and at the BC Cancer Centre for the North, Phipps is down to only 4 chemotherapy treatments per year to manage her cancer.

Despite all of this, 80-year-old Phipps is always thinking positively.

“I really think that the positive attitude that I’ve had over the years really helps – right now I still have lung and bone cancer, but I feel good,” says Phipps.

Dr. Robert Olson, an oncologist from the BC Cancer Centre for the North says that he sees a lot of hope in his patients. 

“There’s a lot of hope when you have cancer. I don’t see a lot of people giving up and actually I’m really surprised by how awesome this environment is to both work, but also come through as a patient.”