When Luke Lumley was nearing the end of chemotherapy, his partner, Jen Sloan, decided to take the tradition of ringing a bell to celebrate his final session one step further.
Lumley received a cancer diagnosis in January, a rare form of testicular cancer that had spread to other locations in his body. He had surgery, followed by chemotherapy, and received his final treatment on April 19.
“This has been a tough go,” says Sloan, who has been off work since January to care for him. “His markers are perfect. As of today he’s normal, so we went through all this for something.”
As is tradition, he rang a bell in Huntsville Hospital to signify the end of his treatments. But Sloan wanted to go bigger and, as a surprise, arranged to have a larger bell on hand for Lumley to ring as well.
Both Lumley and Sloan are employed by Ontario Northland. Sloan borrowed a locomotive bell from her Unifor president, Jeremy Rodgers.
“It’s heartwarming,” says Rodgers of Sloan’s idea. “When you have an opportunity to be part of something like this, you need to be here. We’re co-workers, but we’re family at the end of the day.”
With the help of Luke’s brother, Joe, they received permission from hospital staff to hold a gathering of family and friends in the hospital parking lot for a celebratory bell-ringing.
It was an emotional moment.
“It’s very overwhelming,” says Lumley, who shed “tears full of happiness” when he saw the crowd gathered to mark the moment with him.
“I’m thrilled I’m done,” he adds, and he’s thankful for the love and support he’s received from everyone. “For everyone to be there for me was amazing.”
For Lumley’s dad, Ernie, who turned 86 today, it was the best birthday present ever.
“It’s been hard. No one should have to go through this,” says Ernie, who thanked both Sloan and Joe for their tremendous support of Luke. “I think this [bell-ringing celebration] is fantastic…what a present.”
Joe says it was important for his brother “to know that a lot of people have been thinking about him and standing by him through this process. And it hasn’t been easy.”
Their family has a connection to Huntsville Hospital—Luke and Joe’s mom was a nurse at the hospital. She died at the age of 52.
“Luke’s diagnosis came as a surprise to all of us,” he adds, giving kudos to the medical staff from North Bay to Barrie who treated him and helped him through the process. “He’s the best out of all of us, he’s a really positive guy. I’m very happy we’re at the end of this.”
It’s thought that the bell-ringing tradition began at a Texas cancer centre in 1996, when a patient decided to celebrate the end of his cancer treatments with the U.S. Navy tradition of ringing a bell when a job is complete. It has spread around the world since.
Watch Lumley ring the locomotive bell in the video below:
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