Cancer survivor says it's time to live life to the fullest

When he was 26 Shawn Campbell, formerly of Orwell, was living an active life not thinking his life was about to be turned upside down.

He began to lose weight and had little energy.

"One night I was lying in bed and I felt my neck and there was a lump there. That's when it started."

After a couple of tests doctors found out he had Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.

"I got the call on a Sunday evening from my family doctor about 9 p.m."

The next day Campbell went to see Dr. D. Dryer, an oncologist at the Queen Elizabeth hospital, and treatment was started right away.

Campbell said he felt only relief when he found out.

"I was expecting it. It was kind of a relief to know what it was and then we could battle it."

On the inside he was thinking "Why me?" but he didn't let that show. Only his determination to fight it came out.

He spent the next few months going through chemo treatments, surgeries and radiation therapy.

Campbell had his radar set to survival mode.

"I wanted to know all the facts and what I had to do to beat it. That's what I concentrated on. That's how I got through it."

His cancer has been in remission for seven years.

Campbell now lives and works in Charlottetown and is busy raising his three children Jordan, Avery and Jude.

According to news release from the Canadian Cancer society in 2009 stastistics show lymphoma is one of the most common cancers for young males. The death rates have decreased by 1.5 per cent , but there is still little known about what causes cancer in young people.

Campbell volunteers with the P.E.I. branch of the Canadian Cancer Society in the Cancer Connection program.

Barb Gibson, director of support serves with the P.E.I. branch , said the program started in Ontario in the mid 1990s and caught on nationally from there.

"It is a telephone peer support program."

Within two days of some one calling the support line they are matched with a trained volunteer who has gone through a similar crisis.

Because this is a phone program people can be matched from anywhere.

P.E.I. has 15 vounteers who particapate.

Being a volunteer allows him to help someone who is in the middle of their own cancer nightmare, by sharing his story and being a sounding board for them, said Campbell.

When someone in P.E.I. is first diagnosed with cancer they receive an information packet which contains a pamplet outlining all the support services offered to patients.

Anyone can get more information by going online to www.cancer.ca or by calling 566-4007.