{"id":19316,"date":"2016-08-25T05:46:43","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T09:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=19316"},"modified":"2018-10-01T13:16:12","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T17:16:12","slug":"fk-cancer-rings-loud-true-survivor-meet-bonita-riley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/fk-cancer-rings-loud-true-survivor-meet-bonita-riley\/","title":{"rendered":"F**k cancer rings loud and true for this survivor: Meet Bonita Riley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every week, I will be profiling an extraordinary human being who lives in our community. If you know someone who is doing something interesting with their life, I want to hear about it. Send me an email at <\/strong><\/em>laura.maclean@doppleronline.ca<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a journey you should have to take alone.<\/p>\n

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Bonita Riley will tell you that. Cancer is scary. It\u2019s consuming. It can often leave you feeling exhausted, helpless, hopeless and alone. But it doesn\u2019t have to. With the right kind of support, there\u2019s light at the end of the tunnel.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour journey is a lot better if you don\u2019t have to struggle,\u201d says the 52-year-old cancer survivor. \u201cI had support behind me 100 per cent and that made my journey so much easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

The circumstances were \u201cvery dramatic.” She had discovered a lump in her right breast while doing a self-examination less than a month and a half before her 49th<\/sup> birthday. With no family history of cancer, the diagnosis took Bonita completely by surprise. She was shocked and devastated. Immediately, she booked an appointment to see her family doctor and the worst was confirmed. Bonita was diagnosed with Stage 1 breast cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two worst days of my life were being diagnosed and losing my hair,\u201d recalls Bonita.<\/p>\n

The inevitable was going to happen. Chemotherapy. There\u2019s a list of common side effects, and losing your hair is one of them. Before she began one of 13 rounds of chemotherapy in Huntsville (one at Royal Victoria in Barrie), Bonita chopped and donated her beautiful locks. She always loved her hair, and at the time of her diagnosis it was waist-length. It had been her signature trait for most of her life. She had grown it for years and years and it was healthy and thick, untouched by the chemicals of hair dye.<\/p>\n\n\t\t