LAKELAND - When detailing his own personal experience battling cancer 15 years ago, Les Parsons isn't shy on the details.
A long-time athlete and coach, Parsons was living in Eastern Canada in 2006 when he started experiencing symptoms.
"Fifteen years ago, I was healthy and strong, training seven days a week with my athletes, and, feeling great. I had just finished a great summer of guiding wilderness Nahanni river trips in the Yukon and Alaska. In the fall I was competing in cross country running races, pushing my 45-year-old body to the maximum, while chasing my young athletes in practices and races. Throughout my life, I have experienced the best health of anyone I know," writes Parsons, as he recalls the life-changing experience.
"On Tuesday, I did a three-hour run with one of my fastest junior men. On Wednesday, we had a tough day of running maximum uphill intervals with our team, and I returned home feeling kind of tired. That night, I got up to take a pee and I fainted and collapsed into the shower. I woke up a few hours later and crawled back to bed on my hands and knees," he recalls.
"On Thursday morning, I was feeling tired, so I did the lazy thing and rode my bike along side the athletes who ran intervals. Thursday night, feeling even more lazy, I drove my car to roller-ski practice and stood on the side of the road to coach. On Friday morning, I got up feeling super lazy so I told the athletes to go and climb the mountain (Mont Sainte Anne) beside my house, while I went to the hospital to see a doctor. It was the first time I had ever missed a practice with the athletes."
After seeing a doctor, the severity of the situation began to set in as Parsons was sent by ambulance to Quebec City.
A multitude of tests would be performed, and Parsons would spend Thanksgiving weekend in the hospital.
"Early Tuesday morning, Quebec's specialist surgeon for gastro-intestinal cancer, Doc Marois, explained to me that he would be removing a tumour and part of my stomach, depending on where the tumour was located. This tumour had caused my stomach to tear, which in turn caused the internal hemorrhaging and loss of blood when I collapsed four days earlier," explains Parsons.
After undergoing surgery, Parsons woke up to being told by the doctor that his stomach and part of his liver had been removed, but the doctor "assured me, that I would be able to have a full recovery, and, that of all the organs I need in my body, my stomach is one organ I could live without."
"Being confined to that hospital bed was the longest 10 longest days of my life, wondering and worrying about my life without a stomach. And, 10 days without taking any drink or food by mouth seemed like an eternity. Meanwhile, (the doctor) was wondering and worrying about my cancer. On day 11, he walked into my room with a big smile, pulled the tubes out my mouth and throat, and, while I was coughing up my esophagus, he said I could start drinking water that night and start eating liquid foods the next day. He said that my tests were showing that he had cut out all of the cancer, and, there was no trace of other cancer for now."
Parsons left the hospital two weeks after going in. He says hospital staff underestimated "the power of my mind and my body to focus on getting out of the hospital, and back home to my mom's delicious home cooking... I can eat everything that I always ate before, but, I must eat slowly."
The experience offered Parsons plenty of time to reflect on life.
"I guess I need to accept the fact that I am just as human as one of seven billion fellow human beings, and these are the cards I have been dealt," he says, adding, he has witnessed "first hand the suffering of our world's poorest during my travels around our planet, suffering people who are ill and who have no medical system available to comfort and ease their pain, and, my brief encounter of being ill pales in comparison... to the pain and suffering that our world's poor endure for months or years."
Parsons says he remembers watching Terry Fox's marathon of hope on TV during his first year of university. At the time, Parsons and Fox were the same age.
"Every evening all of the guys from my university residence would gather around the TV and watch the evening news, marvelling at Terry run-hopping a marathon every day, rain or shine. We were in awe of Terry," says Parsons.
Local Terry Fox events
Now living in Bonnyville, Parsons has become involved with local efforts to continue to raise awareness and funds, while continuing on with Terry Fox's legacy.
The Bonnyville Terry Fox Run will take place this weekend on Sept. 19 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Bonnyville Splash Park, along Lakeshore Drive. For more information on the walk, contact Parsons at 780-691-6912.
A Terry Fox Run will also be taking place in St. Paul. The event, which encourages people to run, walk, bike, or do whatever it takes to complete the event, will start at the St. Paul Rec. Centre at noon on Sunday, where there will also be merchandise available for purchase.
This year signifies the 41st annual Terry Fox Run - an event held in countless communities across Canada. Funds raised through the walk/run are directed to the Terry Fox Foundation.
Terry Fox passed away on June 28, 1981. Although he wasn't able to complete his trek across Canada, he "set in motion the framework for an event, The Terry Fox Run, that would ignite cancer research in Canada, raising more than $850 million since 1980, and bring hope and health to millions of Canadians," according to the Terry Fox Foundation.
