CTV News anchor Jocelyn Laidlaw talks cancer battle, importance of early detection
CTV News anchor Jocelyn Laidlaw talks cancer battle, importance of early detection
CTV News anchor Jocelyn Laidlaw says being proactive and getting an early cancer diagnosis is crucial to bettering one’s odds.
The recent death of actress Kirstie Alley has CTV News anchor Jocelyn Laidlaw contemplating her own situation, and the message she can offer to others.
Alley died Dec. 5 at age 71, after a short battle with colon cancer.
Laidlaw, who last month took leave from CTV to undergo treatment following her own cancer diagnosis, says that news hit home.
“I, too, have colorectal cancer and mine was discovered fairly late as well,” she said in a video posted to Twitter.
“They call it the silent killer, and for good reason.
“As Kirstie found out, it can grow inside you with you not even knowing ... for many patients, that's exactly what happens.”
Laidlaw says the decision of Alley’s family to share the kind of cancer the actress had led her to think she should do the same.
“You might not notice the symptoms, or you might and you might put it off as something else – just getting older or changes in your body functions,” she said.
“But the reality is if something changes, it might mean something and you should take it seriously.
“I wish I’d acted sooner on some of the signs and symptoms that I now see were happening quite some time ago.”
It started for Laidlaw with a lymph node that “didn’t feel right.”
She says she had multiple tests and was told multiple times that everything was OK.
But she just wanted the mass gone, and she had it surgically removed.
And then, four days after the procedure, the phone rang.
“They called me to tell me it was full of cancer that was coming from someplace else,” Laidlaw said.
“That's how I discovered that I have metastatic colorectal cancer.”
Laidlaw is currently in her second week of a radiation-only stretch in her treatment.
She says chemotherapy starts up again in a few weeks.
The fight goes on, she says, but she reiterated her belief that being proactive is crucial to bettering one’s odds.
“All too many of us ignore what our bodies are trying to tell us,” she said.
“If your doctor says everything's OK, if you feel deep down inside that something isn't right, you have to act on it.”
Insist, she says.
Or get a different doctor.
Or ask for more tests.
Or get a second opinion.
Or talk to your friends, even if it’s hard.
“I know we don't like to talk about these things, but it can literally save your life,” Laidlaw said.
U.S. President Joe Biden is using his State of the Union address Tuesday night to call on Republicans to work with him to 'finish the job' of rebuilding the economy and uniting the nation as he seeks to overcome pessimism in the country and navigate political divisions in Washington.
After raising interest rates eight consecutive times, Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem told an audience in Quebec City on Tuesday that inflation is showing signs of 'turning the corner' and that the coming year 'will be different.'
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
While much of internet is still buzzing about the wonders of ChatGPT, a Toronto-based technology and visual effects company is making its own splash in Hollywood using artificial intelligence.
As negotiations continue between premiers and the federal government, former Quebec premier Jean Charest is criticizing the feds' string-attached approach to health-care funding, stating that Ottawa should not be in the business of operating health-care systems.
We may soon be able to detect humidity levels, respiratory changes or a too-wet diaper, all with a new type of sensor — one created by drawing with a pencil on specially-treated paper.
An Ontario man is being accused of changing his name, profession and life story multiple times to potentially more than 100 women online before leaving some out thousands of dollars.
A 24-year-old man now linked to an unusual string of crimes that kept the Dallas Zoo on the lookout for missing animals told police that after he swiped two monkeys from their enclosure, he took them onto the city's light rail system to make his getaway, court records show.
Balloons and drones were among 768 reported UFO sightings in Canada last year, according to Winnipeg-based researcher Chris Rutkowski, who also found that eight per cent of all cases remained unexplained.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith expressed her concerns with the federal government's proposed 'just transition' legislation directly to the prime minister on Tuesday, saying she hopes the two can find some common ground.
While some premiers are calling the health-care offer presented by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Tuesday "disappointing," B.C.'s David Eby stopped short of that characterization.
A former medical student who claims he fatally shot a fellow student in self-defence during a drug deal in Halifax denied Tuesday he planned to kill the man and steal the marijuana he was carrying.
Retirement is bittersweet for a Nova Scotia doctor who says she feels like she has abandoned the 2,000 patients she has been caring for because she was not able to find a doctor to replace her.
A Victoria man says a series of devastating earthquakes in Turkiye and Syria have left him feeling nearly paralyzed, as the death toll from the quakes rises above 6,200 people.
An Ontario man is being accused of changing his name, profession and life story multiple times to potentially more than 100 women online before leaving some out thousands of dollars.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
Meaghan Maloney of London, Ont. said she was driving on her way to work, along Highway 401, in her 2023 Nissan Rogue when the sunroof shattered without warning.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
Quebec interim Liberal leader Marc Tanguay says that in wanting to close Roxham Road to prevent irregular entry of asylum seekers into Quebec, the Parti Québécois and its leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon are behaving like Donald Trump.
There is a new sign of financial issues with an Ottawa construction company that suddenly closed, leaving customers with unfinished projects unable to recoup their losses.
A dog in desperate need of care was found abandoned during frigid temperatures over the weekend and is just one of the many cases of abandoned dogs, according to Animal Control in that area.
Roundabouts are under the microscope in Waterloo region as regional councillors are reviewing the safety of the road design following a pair of serious collisions involving pedestrians.
Robyn Silvernagle will be making her third appearance at the national Scotties Tournament of Hearts next week in Kamloops, BC, just weeks after her team was put together.
Residents at a downtown Saskatoon apartment complex are speaking out about what they say are unreasonable rent increases and a lack of attention to building repairs.
An Ontario man is being accused of changing his name, profession and life story multiple times to potentially more than 100 women online before leaving some out thousands of dollars.
The federal government is pledging to increase health funding to Canada's provinces and territories by $196.1 billion over the next 10 years, in a long-awaited deal aimed at addressing Canada's crumbling health-care systems with $46.2 billion in new funding.
A forensic pathologist offered her expert opinion on how Catlin Goodwill’s three-month-old son died suddenly in October 2017, during testimony on the second day of trial.
CTV News anchor Jocelyn Laidlaw says being proactive and getting an early cancer diagnosis is crucial to bettering one’s odds.
