Kathy Poirier learned very quickly that there are people in life who will catch you when you fall. One moment she was living her normal life in Dresden, Ontario, working and spending time with her family; the next, at age 43, she was diagnosed with a rare form of head and neck cancer called adenoid cystic carcinoma.
There are treatments to slow the progression of this cancer, but there is no cure.
Love and support came from many different places – from her mom, husband, kids and close friends and from new friends she made online. Kathy was already at stage IV and there was no time to lose. She would need to undergo surgery at LHSC – and in order to remove the tumour, her vocal cords, her thyroid and part of her esophagus would also need to be removed.
“It happened so fast that I was numb,” she says. In the back of her mind were thoughts of her dad and the fact that he died of throat cancer. And what would it be like to live without her voice, to not be able to tell her family she loved them as she always had?
Dr. Anthony Nichols knew he had a challenging procedure ahead – and, as he performed Kathy’s surgery, he was relieved to learn the cancer hadn’t spread as far as originally thought. The surgery, followed by a lengthy course of radiation therapy, extended Kathy’s life. In addition, doctors at LHSC also were able to give Kathy a voice thanks to a sophisticated prosthetic device positioned at the base of her neck. This allowed Kathy to start and end each day with a smile and an “I love you.”
Update: We are deeply saddened by the passing of Kathy after a long, hard-fought battle with the disease. Her heart and spirit live on through the family members and friends whom she said have always been there surrounding her with light and support. Together, they continue her legacy through the "Kathy Poirier Memorial Head & Neck Cancer Walk" which she began after her original diagnosis. Funds raised through this event support research initiatives at LHSC aimed at improving treatment methods for patients with head and neck cancers.