I identify as a caucasian Canadian, straight, he/him, proud blood cancer survivor, and passionate about making positive changes in the world!

In 2016 at the age of 21, I was diagnosed with Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) which progressed into acute myeloid leukemia (AML) by the time I had a bone marrow transplant in January 2017. After my transplant, I enjoyed eight months of remission but my MDS returned by October. Now I receive and very light chemotherapy every six weeks for five days and live my life to its absolute fullest in between treatments!

After a significant break up a year after my relapse, I turned to the Young Adult Cancer Canada (YACC) community for support. I have loved it ever since. YACC gave me a new way of looking at life and taught me how to thrive even though I still have cancer. It has also given me a close network of people all across Canada that I can turn to when times are bad, and they can turn to me for support, too.

I am extremely excited to have the chance to directly support the organization I love. I found it shocking how only 1 of the 22 young adults diagnosed with cancer in Canada each day find YACC, and I want to find the other 21 people and let them know that we are here to support them. I also want to help grow my local YACC community and make sure every young adult survivor in the Calgary area knows about YACC.

Diagnosis: Myelodysplastic syndrome

Age at diagnosis: 21

Province: AB

AROUND THE WEB:

• Blair’s survivor profile
• Blair’s YACCtivist blog posts
• ‘I’m a goner’: How COVID-19 compounds the challenges for Canada’s cancer patients (February 4, 2021 – Global News)
• Parents of 19-year-old Calgary woman who died of cancer say young cancer patients need more support (October 13, 2019 – Global News)