During weeks of radiation treatment in Winnipeg, Penny Norris wanted two things at the end of each day: supper at home and a night in her own bed.
It meant travelling about five hours round trip from Kenora, Monday through Friday. But returning home gave her something familiar during a year that had been overtaken by breast cancer.
“It wasn’t all the cancer dictating my journey, right?” she told the Miner and News.
Now 62, Norris has been diagnosed with breast cancer twice. Born and raised here, she is sharing her experience after years of keeping much of it private, hoping others will see that life after treatment can hold friendship, travel and new experiences.
Her first diagnosis came in 2009. She remembers finding a large lump in her left breast while drying off after a shower that February, 13 months after a mammogram had come back clear.
At first, she thought it might be a blocked duct. She made a doctor’s appointment, and a biopsy confirmed cancer.
“I was shocked, to say the least.”
Norris said she had no known family history of breast cancer. Her diagnosis was stage three, triple-negative breast cancer, with lymph nodes also affected.
She underwent a mastectomy in Winnipeg that April, followed by six rounds of chemotherapy in Kenora and 36 radiation treatments in Winnipeg.
Receiving chemotherapy close to home helped. For radiation, she chose the daily drive rather than staying away for weeks.
Having supper at home and sleeping in her own bed offered a measure of normalcy. She wanted to make decisions about the parts of her life she could still control.
Norris had married her husband, Robert, in 1997 and had worked in dietary services and housekeeping at Pinecrest. Before her diagnosis, life had included work, family and some travel.
Cancer brought fear and uncertainty, particularly about whether she was making the right treatment decisions.
“Well, the hardest part is not knowing, am I making the right decisions?”
She had supportive people around her, but asking for help did not come easily. She also held back some details from her mother, knowing how difficult it was for her to see her daughter ill and be unable to fix it.
Norris said good support meant having people who could listen without overwhelming her with advice.
A connection with Kenora’s Dragon Tamers eventually gave her another source of understanding.
After a trip to Las Vegas in 2010, Norris developed swelling in her left arm and learned she had lymphedema. She reached out to a founding member of the local breast cancer survivor dragon boat group, who connected her with another member familiar with the condition.
That year, Norris began paddling with the team.
When she was diagnosed again in 2011, she already had a group of women around her who understood treatment and its aftermath. Norris said she felt fortunate to have their knowledge and support as she faced cancer a second time.
Norris said the second cancer was found in her right breast during a mammography. It was also triple-negative, but was a new cancer rather than a spread of the first.
She underwent another mastectomy and treatment. This time, she knew more about what lay ahead.
“I knew I did it once so I could do it again.”
The friendships formed through paddling have remained part of her life. This summer, she travelled to France with fellow paddler Cindy and her 22-year-old niece for the International Breast Cancer Paddlers’ Commission festival in Aix-les-Bains, held Aug. 24 to 30.
Sharing the trip with her niece made it especially personal. Norris described gathering with survivors from around the world as an emotional celebration of life after breast cancer.
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip.”
Survivorship has also included loss. A friend who went through treatment around the same time died in 2012. Norris said the death brought grief and guilt that she still remembers.
She does not dismiss the fear that can return with an unexplained ache or pain. But she tries not to let it determine how she lives.
“But I try to live each day being the best me that I could be.”
Despite having found her first lump after a clear mammogram, Norris remains an advocate for screening and for having breast changes checked. She wants women to ask questions and follow through on concerns.
She also wants anyone going through treatment to know there are people willing to listen.
“Everybody has their own journey, but there are women out there who can certainly help you.”
“And if you need it, ask for it.
