When it comes to our own personal health, it is perhaps the most devastating news one could hear, "You have cancer."
For many of us, it is a phrase we will hear at least once in our lifetime.
But one area man has heard it four times.
Jim Hoffman, of Dashwood, Ont., is a 72-year-old cancer survivor.
The "Big C" first took his body on over 30 years ago.
It was early in 1991 when Jim shared with his wife Donna he didn’t feel well.
"I was feeling somewhat nausea during meals and after meals."
Jim did some testing, and his doctor called, asking to see him.
"And that’s not a good thing when your doctor calls you to come in."
With Donna at his side, the doctor shared Jim had bowel cancer.
"The first that goes through your mind is "Why me? Why us?", Donna recalls.
The fight against cancer would take time and come as the couple grew the family business, a funeral home.
The irony of working in death, while facing it daily, was not lost on Jim.
Especially as he made a call to the home of a man he knew. He'd lost his battle to the same type of cancer Jim was fighting.
"I went to pick up him at his house, where he died, and all I can see is myself," Jim recalled with emotion.
As he beat his cancer for the first time, Jim developed survivor guilt. It is an emotion he did not know he would face again two decades later.
In March of 2013, Jim again felt unwell. This time he was diagnosed simultaneously with primary kidney cancer and Hodgkins Lymphoma.
The prognosis was discouraging, but Jim was now better prepared to fight.
"I was determined that I was going to be in control of cancer. I wasn’t going to let cancer be in control of me."
Jim says after many treatments that “kicked him hard”, he was given an all-clear and told he did not need to return to the London Regional Cancer Clinic.
But it was not to be.
In 2018, cancer again appeared in an unusual spot, his eye.
Eventually, Donna recalls what a specialist said.
"It was to the brain or coming from the brain."
Jim Hoffman leaving the London Regional Cancer Centre after one of his four successful fights with cancersWith the devastating news, Jim and Donna were told to get their affairs in order, as cancer was likely a death sentence.
Jim decided then and there to fulfill his wife’s bucket list - no matter the cost of front-row seats. He called a friend with connections.
“Get two tickets to Celine Dion. And she said, "Why?" And I said, "Because Donna wants to go there, and I want to be with her."
But while on the trip, unexpected good news arrived. Jim’s latest cancer had not yet found its way to his brain. He had a chance.
And so, through a new treatment, Jim has again beaten the cancer off.
He remains in remission.
"Quite a story eh?" he exclaims.
A story Jim wants to tell to inspire others, who are just beginning to fight the, "Big C."
"I would say you can beat this. Be strong. Never give up!"
For Jim, he says success has come through his trust in faith, family and friends.
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