KEN'S
STORY
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Ken
Hickey, a research
radar engineer from
St. John's Newfoundland
was diagnosed with
a rare form of pancreatic
cancer in his early
forties. "There
are only eighteen reported
cases" he
says,
"you'd
have better chances
of winning the Lotto
than getting this."
He was stunned and
at first, didn't believe
the diagnosis. "I
was so weak at that
time that I felt like
a dead body living
in a bed," he remembers.
Making a film
His wife,
Rolanda met filmmaker
Gerry Rogers in the
hospital where Rogers
was also seeking treatment
for her breast cancer.
"We
offered to film Ken
so that Rolanda would
have something to hold
on to," remembers
Rogers, "at
the time, he was so
sick that we didn't
expect him to survive."
Then they decided to
participate in the
film that Rogers was
making with their neighbour
and cancer victim,
Leida Finlayson. "I
don't know why I did
it," says
Ken, "I
guess it kept my mind
off my problems and
I hoped that it would
help somebody else."
"No
matter how weak he
was Ken would get outside
and shuffle up the
hill," remembers
Rogers. "He
wouldn't give up."
But Ken had to
learn to let people
help him. "I
was like a baby overnight
and Rolanda had to
do everything."
Treating the cancer
Ken
was treated with chemotherapy
and radiation for six
weeks in April 2003.
The treatment was difficult
but he did start getting
stronger. The cancer
is still in his pancreas
but it's stopped growing.
Now he has a CT scan
every four months so
doctors can track it.
PHOTOGALLERY:
View photos and share
Ken and Rolanda's
thoughts as they
faced his cancer. LAUNCH
Eighteen
months later he says
that he is at about
sixty percent of
his former energy
level, "Every
few months I feel
just a tiny little
bit better. It's
been more up than
down lately." Although
he still has the
cancer, Ken is hopeful
about the future.
He and his wife Rolanda
are trying to start
a family.
He says the experience
has changed him. "I
don't rush around as
much as I used to.
Everything has a lower
priority. Now I only
think about my wife,
my family and a few
close friends."
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