Katie’s Story
Katie Hulan, a resident of Victoria, British Columbia, was diagnosed in 2021 at the age of 33 with stage 4 lung cancer and told she would have a few months to live. Katie loves the outdoors and adventure. As a healthy young woman, this was a complete shock to her. Prior to this diagnosis Katie had been feeling good about her health, so this news was not only surprising to her but to her partner, friends and family as well.
Six months leading up to her diagnosis, Katie had developed a cough that was getting progressively worse week by week, and throughout the course of those six months, she worked with her family doctor to try to come up with some sort of diagnosis.
Over the course of two months, Katie’s doctor prescribed her multiple different puffers, but nothing seemed to work. She was seen by respirologists, and eventually a CT scan and blood work confirmed that she had a mass in her lung.
Over the course of the next few days as Katie grappled with this life changing diagnosis, she learned that the cancer had also travelled to her brain and liver and was told that she only had a few months to live. Katie was determined to figure out what the next steps were for her and her family. She was certain there was something that could be done that would Improve her prognosis.
Katie feels she should have been diagnosed sooner. It is unacceptable that she had to wait six months before she received her diagnosis.
After months of self-advocacy, Katie was able to access genome-based testing. This was a turning point as the genome-based testing revealed that Katie was eligible for a targeted therapy that could significantly improve her outcomes. She was prescribed the targeted therapy and as she continued this course of treatment, her cancer stopped spreading and her outcomes significantly improved.
Katie’s diagnosis truly impacted her life. It was worrisome and scary from day one. She was only given a few months and didn’t know what her quality of life would be.
Given her experience navigating the cancer care system in Ontario and British Columbia, Katie is a passionate advocate, calling on elected officials to act urgently to address the long wait times from testing to diagnosis. It is unacceptable that people in Canada living with cancer are waiting far too long to get the care they need. Elected officials need to prioritize investments to address wait times so Canadians are no longer dying to be a priority.
Katie is also calling on policy makers to ensure that our health system is equipped to adopt genome-based testing. Being able to access genome-based testing was a turning point in Katie’s journey and so many people in Canada living with cancer are facing barriers in accessing innovative care and treatment.
There are far too many similar stories as people in Canada are waiting to be a priority. Cancer Action Now is working to bring forward challenges experiences by people in Canada living with cancer in accessing timely, high-quality cancer care, and calling on policy makers to make cancer care a priority.
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