Sylvan Lake mother shares story of strength following cancer battle

After giving birth, Percy’s health rapidly began to decline. Less than three weeks later doctors discovered two melon sized tumors on her ovaries, and more tumors on her small intestine, small bowel and liver.

Percy was eventually diagnosed with Burkitts Lymphoma. She had surgery to remove her ovaries, and a bowel resection. Unfortunately, the bowel resection didn’t hold and Percy was faced with the decision to undergo an ileostomy.

“My first thought was ‘how am I going to be able to help other people who live with this too if I have to have one myself?’” she recalled.

She underwent the surgery and had an ostomy bag inserted into her abdomen. For the next six months, Percy was at the Peter Lougheed Centre in Calgary, undergoing different surgeries and five rounds of aggressive chemo therapy.

“I was in survival mode. I knew I had to get through it because I have two young daughters. They honestly hardly crossed my mind because all I could think about was that I had to live,” said Percy.

“It was literally an uphill fight. My husband said ‘when I had to sit you down and tell you that you have cancer and your ovaries had been removed I thought a part of you might hate me, because I had to make those decisions for you.’

“When he told me I have cancer, my reaction was just ‘okay, what’s the next step?’ I didn’t get emotional. I didn’t get upset or angry at the world. I just knew that I had to do whatever it took to fight it. So that’s what we did. He was by my side every day in Calgary for the whole six months I was there and we fought it and we won.”

Once she was well enough, Percy reached out to Erika Fetterly from EFP studios with the idea of doing a boudoir photoshoot to show all that her body had been through.

“I said to her ‘Hey, I want to do a photoshoot to celebrate what my body has gotten me through’ because this is huge, this is a whole different walk of life, it’s a whole different ball game,” explained Percy.

“I wanted to do something to really celebrate and commemorate what I’ve gone through. So we did just that. She showed my scars, my stretch marks, she showed my ileostomy bag, and in that I found an even deeper sense of self love and appreciation for my body than I already had. “

Percy uploaded her photos onto Facebook and they quickly went viral, leading to appearances on multiple news outlets.

Throughout this journey, Percy says she experienced strength she didn’t know she had.

“Strength will come from a place within that you didn’t expect when you least expect to have that strength,” she shared.

“There is literally nothing more powerful than telling your story. Especially when it comes to body positivity and body image, because there is so many society views around right now, you know, like if you’re not as skinny, or you’re not this thick, or you have a debilitating condition, then you’re looked down on by society and it really shouldn’t be that way. You should be able to feel comfortable and be comfortable in the skin that you are in. Your skin is all you have, so embracing it is all you can do.”

Percy says life after cancer has been a rollercoaster and a whole new learning curve. She still faces fatigue and the side effects of her chemotherapy. She now suffers from short-term memory loss and has had to learn to document everything so she doesn’t forget things.

However, she says her quality of life has sky-rocketed.

“Crohn’s disease was terrible for me. I had pain and stomach aches and cramps and I couldn’t hardly eat anything, and now I eat everything that I love, I work out, I play volleyball, I go hiking, I wear my girls in wraps and carry them around in slings. We go hiking and camping and I just get to fully enjoy everything I have in life and it’s just truly amazing.”

by Storrm Lennie

Sylvan Lake mother shares story of strength following cancer battle

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