Ann Fairley raises money for colon cancer research

When doctors told Ann Fairley she had terminal colon cancer and only two years to live, she decided a few things.

First, she wasn't going to go quietly that's never been her style.And second, she was going to condense as much life as she could into those two years, and spend what time she had left doing what really matters.

She says that includes raising awareness and funds for colon cancer in N.B.

It also meant moving back home to family in tiny Estey's Bridgeoutside Fredericton and giving up her 60-hourwork weeks in Torontoafter learning her diagnosis in March 2013.

At 42, she had worked her way up from office clerk to vice-president of the Ontario Motorcoach Association, one of thecountry's largest industry associations. Despite loving her job, Fairley is happy she's moved home.

"I'm proud to come from a place that cares about other people I really love that about my small little rural New Brunswick placewhere I grew upand it's good to come back to that," she said.

Fairley is trying to spend as much time as possible telling people her story. She worries that people might overlook symptoms like she did.

Chinese food origins

In her case, it began after a meal of Chinese food. She had pains in her stomach for days but brushed it off as indigestion.

"I was kind of wishy-washy about it, you know. I didn't really feel that great. My stomach hurt sometimes when I ate," she recalled.

"I said,'You know what? There's something wrong because I hurt so much that I can't sleep.'- Ann Fairley

She tried eating yogurt and drinking cranberry juice to correct what she thought might be a bacterial problem.

Eventually, the pain passed and Fairley chalked it up to her ongoing stomach trouble. The turning point came after her birthday in February.

She'd gone out to celebrate with some friends and "had a little bit too much to drink."

"I woke up in the morning and I had excruciating pain right where my liver is, and I was hotand sweaty. I had been going through a period for months when my stomach hurt when I ate so I still didn't think it was that big a deal, but after my birthday, I said, 'You know what? There's something wrong because I hurt so much that I can't sleep.'And I called my doctor," said Fairley.

Every test worsethan the last

It was much worse than she imagined. By the time she received the diagnosis, the colon cancer was spreading.

"Unbeknownst to me, it was in myliver, my uterus, my ovaries, my tubes, and the cancer had spread all through my stomach and in my lymph nodes," said Fairley. "I started getting tests right after my birthday and every test was worse than the last."

Fairley says she'll never forget those first checkups. After her first ultrasound, the technician asked her when she was going to the doctor, and she replied she hadn't booked a follow-up yet.

"And she's like, 'Call him today Like as soon as you leave here.Call your doctor,'" said Fairley.

She says it's still hard emotionally to think back to that day.

'I thought maybe it's kidney stones, maybe acid reflux...'- Ann Fairley

"I thought maybe it's kidney stones, maybe acid reflux, you know there's all these things that go through your head," she recalled.

"The worst case scenario crosses your mind, but it's not the first and foremost. I didn't think that I had cancer."

'Do you have WiFiat the hospital?'

Fairley says the moment she received the diagnosis of stage 4 colon cancer was surreal.

"One of the first questions you ask your doctor is am I dying?but (that was after) I asked her, 'Do you have WiFi at the hospital?'"

Fairley can't believe she did that.

"We laugh now about all the questions that we asked the hospital when I first started going, but when the doctor says, 'Well, it's very serious, the average survival for a stage 4 colon cancer diagnosis is two years.' When you're 42 and told that you may have two years to live, it's a real eyeopener. I couldn't sleep. It was the most frightening thing that ever happened to me for sure," said Fairley.

Fairley briefly returned to work with the motorcoach association after her diagnosis, but it was hard to keep up her sunny disposition.

"It just wasn't realistic to be the vice president of a company and have all these responsibilities I had to readjust everything, my whole thinking. I had to slow down and take care of myself for probably the first time in my life," she said.

Since coming home to N.B., Fairley has pored her efforts into the community where she grew up. She helps organize raffles and bake sales to raise money for colon cancer research. During her spare time and when she's feeling up to it, she volunteers at a nursing home.

Her number one concernthoughis getting the word out about colon cancer and its symptoms.

'I don't want other people to have to hurtthe way I have'

She's passionate about helping people before it's too late. She says it's the second leading cause of cancer for men and women, but it's also 90 per cent treatable and preventable if it's caught early enough.

It's even more important to get checked if there's a history of cancer in your parent's families, something she says she didn't take as seriously as she should have.

"I want to get the word out there, so other people are protecting themselves," said Fairley."If one person doesn't die because of me being an open person and being able to get the word out there, then I'll feel like what I've had to go through has some mitigating factor. I don't want other people to have to hurtthe way I have. "

Fairley's homecoming has also afforded her the opportunity to reconnect with family. She and her brothers bought a kayak and are reliving some of their childhood memories at the family cottage on the Miramichi River, debating such weighty matters as which way to paddle through the rapids.

"I guess it feels like a hug, you know," she said. "Like, you are doing something that you did when you were with your parents, when you were a kid, when you felt safe when there wasn't all of these scary things and you're with the people that you love, doing something that you all love, so that's why I think that's really helpful and good."

Push For Your Tush

On June 7, Fairley is planning to take part in the annual Push For Your Tush walk/run at Odell Park in Fredericton. It's part of a country-wide fundraiser for colon cancer research. This year, the Fredericton group is trying to raise money to buy a new colonoscopy machine at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton.