Any cancer survivor will tell you that it’s an exhausting ordeal. Tristan Williams has done it twice in his 26 years and now he’s looking to help others in their own fights.
Williams is part of the McGill University Health Centre’s Cancer Survivorship Program. Inspiring those still battling the disease, he tells them of how at 12 years old, he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. While the cancer went into remission, he was later diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and then, at age 19, cancer in his hip.
“I got my hip removed. My hip, my femur bone, some of my muscles, complete resection and all that,” he said. “You have to relearn to walk.”
He spent much of his teenage years in physical pain, missing out on many typical teen experiences. He found himself angry.
“I definitely was, because it’s not supposed to happen,” he said.
Eventually, he found that staying positive had a way of helping him heal. The MUHC recruited him in an effort to spread that message to others, like Michelina Giampa.
Giampa was diagnosed with cancer three days before her fifty-fifth birthday.
“It’s not what I was expecting for my birthday gift,” she said.
Though Giampa has a strong support network of family and friends, Williams offers something they can’t – a shared experience.
“Who better go guide you through it than someone who’s been there?” she said.
Genieve Chaput, the physician who supervises the survivorship program, said Williams has become an integral part of patients’ lives.
“They relate to one another and there’s a safety that no one can provide unless you’ve been through it,” she said. “That’s why Tristan is so special. He’s like our star.”
