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A woman from North Vancouver celebrates her absence of cancer with a new kind of physical challenge.
Melissa Offner, who moved to the North Shore two and a half years ago, was diagnosed with a rare form of melanoma a few days after her birthday in June 2018.
After a year spent in uncertainty and anxiety that a cancer diagnosis can bring, Offner has been declared without cancer. Pbadionate about nature and the outdoors, she plans to celebrate her new health and raise public awareness of a cause she now knows first-hand by participating in the ambitious Seek the Peak event today (16 November). June).
"It was incredibly difficult. I felt extremely weak, very vulnerable, "Offner told the North Shore News, explaining what was done after discovering an irregular mole on the right wrist that completely transformed his life. "A week later, I discovered that I had skin cancer. It was a shock. I had just celebrated my 34th birthday. It's a person who has spent a lot of my life outside. "
Offner and his doctors acted quickly. She underwent surgery and the doctors removed a "big part of my wrist" to make sure the cancer did not spread.
"Fortunately, as a result of this operation … they were able to eliminate all my cancer," says Offner. A year later, she received the go-ahead even though she notes, "It's never quite clear, to be honest."
For at least five years, Offner will undergo constant checks to ensure that she is still free of melanoma and cancer.
However, her spirits were enthusiastic enough to want to start celebrating and educating others as a result of the good news she had received during her last year of checkup.
"This is really the year that is usually the most crucial of the five years. It does not mean that it will not come back, but it does mean that your body cells are relatively healthy and are doing well, "she says.
Extending from Ambleside Park, in West Vancouver, to the summit of Mount Grouse (or at the top of Vancouver), the annual Seek the Peak event is touted as a 13-kilometer ride with a 1,400-meter climb, which raises funds for life-saving work at the BC Cancer Foundation.
"I have had a very positive experience with BC Cancer," says Offner during his medical trip. "I think it's very important for a number of reasons. … When I learned about the existence of this event and that it was about trails and track races in my own backyard, it seemed like such a cool event. "
Although Offner has always had an affinity for the outdoors, his love for the sport has really come true over the last difficult year. "You're starting to notice things, you're starting to become more aware of them," she says, adding that the serene trails and the incredible backdrop of the North Shore have become even more important to her. "I really turned more than ever towards running, the outdoors."
Going for the summit is the culmination of Offner's obsession with the outdoors.
"I could not think of a better way to celebrate life than to climb 1,400 m with other cancer survivors and supporters."
– Ben Bengtson, North Shore News
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