Coun. Elizabeth Peloza has shared her experience undergoing cancer treatments in a special CTV News series called Healing in the Public Eye. On Friday, she underwent her final radiation treatment inside the Verspeeten Family Cancer Centre at London Health Sciences Centre (LHSC), a milestone that patients mark by striking a large gong inside the atrium. It took only moments for applause from other patients, caregivers, and staff to drown out the resonating gong. “Active treatment has wrapped up,” Peloza said shortly afterwards. “It’s definitely been a long road, we’ve been through a lot. Banging the gong was amazing.” The mother of three, began her breast cancer journey with a diagnosis last October. Her treatment included surgery late last year, dose-dense chemotherapy, and finally 19 rounds of radiation. “When I started treatment, a survivor said to just write-off the next year of your life, you’re doing the next year of your life in treatment to make sure you have many more years ahead,” Peloza explained. She hopes hearing the gong inspires patients and caregivers inside the cancer centre who are starting their own cancer journeys, “Every time someone bangs the gong, or rings the bell upstairs (for completing chemotherapy), other patients know that their day will hopefully come as well.” “The gong is special for all patients,” explained Kirk Patterson, who survived a neck cancer diagnosis in 2012. “You bang the gong and people down there (in the atrium) realize you’ve been through a battle, and the hope is that you’re going to remain cancer free for the rest of your life.” “It’s a lifelong journey, and I think once patients understand what they’re going through, they understand that ringing the bell or banging the gong is the end of one race, and it’s the beginning of another race,” Patterson added. Peloza acknowledged that while her active treatments at the cancer centre are complete, follow-up care will continue, “My follow-up appointments are already booked. I’m back for another mammogram in February, and another meeting with my oncologist and cancer doctors in March. Some of the bloodwork still goes on (because) some of these medications are hard on your body and especially your liver.” Eliot Archer, Director of Cancer Care believes Peloza’s decision to share her journey in the public eye increased awareness about many of the services available at the Verspeeten Family Cancer Centre that extend beyond clinical treatments. “I think it hopefully highlights that there are a number of different supports available for patients and families going through a cancer journey,” Archer said. “From the wig and turban boutique to some of our psychosocial oncology supports that try to embody person-centred care.” Peloza admited reaching the milestone in her treatments hadn’t sunk in yet, “I’m needing to set aside some time to sit down and process what just concluded, what I’ve just accomplished, and what my body, my family, and my friends have just been through.” She was reflective while rewatching an episode of Healing in the Public Eye that focused on her decision to shave her head after chemotherapy caused much of her hair to fall out. Asked what advice she’d give herself on that difficult day in April she responded,” That it will be okay, and that you can help so many people along their journey if you just keep sharing.” She recalled ringing the bell after finishing chemotherapy, “When I rang the bell upstairs, a lady shouted, ‘I know you from the news! I got my diagnosis after yours, but I’d already watched your story on the news, so when my hair started falling out, I already knew what to do.” More than six months after the first episode of Healing in the Public Eye, Elizabeth Peloza says the series didn’t just document her cancer journey, it helped her to reach this milestone. “Being so public about something that’s so private really helped to get me through it.”
