CTV's Jayne Pritchard shares her cancer journey

CTV's Jayne Pritchard shares her cancer journey CTV's long-time anchor, Jayne Prichard, shares her cancer journey.

Barrie, Ont. — CTV's long-time anchor, Jayne Pritchard, was shocked when she was diagnosed with breast cancer nearly three years ago.

Before being diagnosed, Jayne was asked to go back to Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre (RVH) in Barrie for multiple mammograms and biopsies, but she says she was confident she was fine.

"I thought I'm healthy. I take care of myself. I do all the right things," she said.

In fact, Jayne was so confident she almost skipped her initial mammogram.

"I was do for one in January of 2018, and I thought it is such an inconvenience to make the appointment and go to the hospital. All my mammograms were fine except maybe one, and that was no big deal," she says, but Jayne decided to go because she knew it was the right thing to do.

After two mammograms and two biopsies, her doctor called her to say she had early-stage breast cancer.

"I just felt faint," Jayne says. "I felt blank at the same time. I didn't know what to say. I sat down, and I was only listening to half of this because my mind was racing about what lay ahead. "

Jayne admits she took the diagnosis hard and struggled with it because she was so health-conscious, eating right, working out regularly.

"But cancer does not care about that. It was an emotional roller-coaster. That was a really difficult day to get that diagnosis," she said.

Despite her almost three-year cancer journey, full of ups and downs, Jayne says RVH and the staff she met made the road a little smoother.

"Believe it or not, I never felt any anxiety going for any of the surgeries that I had there, all seven of them.

I felt so well taken care of by everybody there. I felt like I was going to my aunt's house, and she would welcome me with open arms. I knew I was in good hands," Jayne says.

Even though she was away from the CTV desk during her recovery for many months, Jayne says she always felt supported by the community.

"I was so overcome and humbled. I had no idea that so many people cared so much. It was overwhelming the response, the messages, the Facebook messages, the emails, the letters, the cards, the lovely prayer shawls that people made for me. It meant the world, and it gives you strength."

Today, Jayne says she is happy to share her journey, hoping it will inspire others to self-screen and get a mammogram.

"Everything happens for a reason. We are all on a certain path. I feel I am on this path so I can help others, and I think that is why it happened to me. I see it as my soul's purpose to help other women," she concluded.