AMHERST, N.S. – Every day spent alive is a good day, and cancer research has provided people with a lot of extra days.
“As devastating as the loss of my brother was, I know that he was in our lives for five more years than he would have been because, thankfully, people donate money to cancer research,” Michael Wilson said.
Wilson is the guest speaker at the 2019 Relay for Life on June 8 at Amherst Stadium.
Wilsons brother, Rod Wilson, passed away on June 2, 2015, at the age of 43 after losing his battle with cancer.
His brother’s funeral was the day before the 2015 Relay for Life at Amherst Stadium.
“I came to the relay and everyone said, ‘why are you here,’” said Wilson. “I was there because my heart said ‘this is where I have to be.’”
About 20 luminaries were lit in memory of Rod at the 2015 relay.
“That became overwhelming. I was in a quiet corner of the stadium and I was sitting there, and a woman came up to me and sat in the seat behind me, put her hand on my shoulder and said, ‘this is tough isn’t it,’” said Wilson. “She didn’t say anything more. She just sat with me for about 15 minutes. I remember her hand being on my shoulder. That’s what the relay is about. People helping people through tough times.”
Wilson has volunteered at every Relay for Life in Amherst since it first started at Robb’s Centennial Complex in 2003.
At the time, he happened to be walking past Robb’s when he noticed people working and asked the organizer what they were doing.
“I told her I would love to help next year, and she said, ‘why wait until next year, help now.’ So, I stayed and filled bags with sand for the luminaries.”
It was only a few years before the first Relay for Life that, in 1994, Wilsons mother died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 50.
“My mother and father were hard working labourers with no pensions and no anything, and when my mother got sick and was told she was going to die, she had to stop working,” Wilson said. “The unemployment office contacted her and said, ‘I’m sorry, but we’re going to cut you off because you’re not actively searching for work,’ even though she had a few months to live.”
Costs of medications, and survival, began to mount and panic started to set in.
“The Cancer Society stepped up and said ‘please don’t worry, you have enough to worry about. We will look after anything that needs to be looked after,’” said Wilson. “Although I’ve always been a believer in giving back, at that point I said that, ‘when I am able to give back, I will give back as much as I can.’”
Wilsons father passed away from cancer at the age of 72, and when he gives his presentation at the Relay for Life on June 8, four members of his family, two aunts and two uncles who are cancer survivors, will be in the audience.
Because cancer runs in his family, Wilson knows he’s at high risk of getting the disease, and he knows life can be short.
“When I think about Rod, the one thing that gives me great comfort is that he lived a good life,” Wilson said. “His famous saying was ‘there’s no price on a good time.’ He lived a good life, and I learned from that.”
Wilson says he used to worry too much.
“The old cliché is it that today could be your last day, so I always tell myself not to sweat the small stuff.”
That’s the message he hopes people take away from the Relay for Life.
“When people hear the word cancer it’s like everything is so traumatic and sad,” Wilson said. “The relay doesn’t work that way. We celebrate the fact that you’re here, you’re alive, and you’re walking and, thanks to research, more people are living longer lives every day.”
