About Geoff Eaton
Geoff is a two-time cancer survivor and the founder and Executive Director of Young Adult Cancer Canada. He has first-hand experience attending support groups with people who are closer in age to his grandparents than to him. Geoff is responsible for the strategic direction of the organization and his own experiences help him ensure YACC’s vision remains focused on the well-being of the young adults dealing with cancer in Canada. Geoff is currently serving on the Newfoundland and Labrador Cancer Control Advisory Committee, has participated on numerous cancer related boards and working groups and is on temporary sabbatical from coaching minor hockey. He spends personal time riding his motorcycle with his wife, Karen; playing “jungle-gym Daddy” with daughters, Adia and Mira and son Kane; staying healthy with weight training and hockey; and chasing that sometimes elusive state of “balance.”
Hometown
St. John’s, NL
Team member since
2000
Attended
Many YACC events
What do you do when you’re not at YACC?
Rock it out with my kids at home, rock it out at rock concerts with my wife and friends, chase black rubber and guys much quicker than I, gym and motorcycle also favourites.
What are your words of wisdom/favourite quote?
“The determinant of one’s growth is the degree to which they are willing to be truly open.” – Jeff Mooney “Statistics are sometimes an accurate reflection of the past, but they are not necessarily at all a predictor of the future.” – Geoff Eaton
What attracted you to YACC?
Combo of wanting to use my cancer experience to help others, needing a way to process the crazy path I had lived and an effort to deal with the fear of dying very young without making the mark I wanted.
What are people always surprised to learn about you?
I’m taller in person than in pictures.
What were you like as a kid?
Same — Determined, fun, strong sense of what was important to me, but with more hair, and a few less pounds.
Which superpower would you like to have?
The remote that stops time from the movie Click would be cool. “Sleep” from the sandman for my kids on select nights would also come in handy.
What’s your hidden talent?
I can do a little of a lot of things, but very few things really well.
What was your favourite experience at YACC?
Many but the 2012 Survivor Conference was a personal highlight as I really felt that the event could have been just as powerful without me having been there. A powerful experience for me given my ultimate goal for YACC is to build a great organization that is around long after I am.
