About Dani Taylor
Dani is an oncology social worker and young adult, colorectal cancer survivor. She has completed her MSW with Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at University of Toronto, as well as her BSW and BA in English Literature with York University. Her experiences with the health care system and support of Young Adult Cancer Canada (YACC) led her to explore a career in psychosocial oncology. She attended Retreat Yourself in 2015 and has been passionate about the role of community in cancer care ever since. Dani makes her home in Toronto, ON, where her loving partner, Pat, fills the air with music and her spoiled cat, Gravy, sings along hoping for an early dinner. Dani has previously worked for Gilda’s Club Greater Toronto, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.
Hometown
Sarnia, ON
Team member since
2022
Attended
Retreat Yourself 2015 (survivor), Retreat Yourself Adventure 2015 (survivor), Survivorship Conference 2015 (survivor), Survivor Conference 2016 (survivor/performer), Survivor Conference 2017 (survivor/speaker), Retreat Yourself Adventure 2018 (peer supporter), Survivor Conference 2019 (facilitator), and YACCtivist Training 2019 (staff). Former Localife Toronto leader and YACCtivist.
What’s your favourite sports team/band/book/movie/place in the world?
Survivor (the TV show), Superfan.
What do you do when you’re not at YACC?
I love to volunteer, enjoy good food, and let the TikTok algorithm handle the rest.
What are your words of wisdom/favourite quote?
“I know it has all been confusing, or at least it was to me. But it’s the same confusion as when I am confident that every person who has ever lived knows exactly what I mean when I describe feeling like a snake on the path in the dappled sunshine which turns out, on close inspection, only to be a snake’s discarded skin. “To see a snake is also to think of the way a snake slithers out of its skin, the way it has to rub its skin against something hard so that the skin begins to loosen and also the way the snake must generate sufficient new skin so that the old might be left behind. To see a snake is to think of the way the snake’s eyes glaze over and it might not be able to see for a bit because there it is, getting new skin, getting rid of the old, lost in the process of becoming something else.” – Anne Boyer, What Cancer Takes Away (2019)
