Alison Morin

Ali's Fight Club
 

Alison has Follicular Lymphoma that originally presented as a small lump in her breast. Though many times diagnosis of Follicular Lymphoma can take a long time and many patients are on Watch and Wait for several years, Alison received a diagnosis quickly and started treatment immediately. She had 6 months of chemoimmunotherapy followed by 2 years of maintenance immunotherapy. Throughout the entire 2 and a half years, Alison continued to work. Actually, she excelled at her job as a management consultant! It wasn’t until she was finished with her treatment that the exhaustion became overwhelming and she went to see her doctor to request some time off. Her original thought was just needed 1 month rest and back to it. Luckily her doctor encouraged her to expect to be off 3-6 months. That was a year and a half ago. Unfortunately, Alison suffers from chronic fatigue, a side effect directly linked to the toxic effects of chemotherapy. This doesn’t stop her from being a warm, kind, friendly mother, wife, friend, and person! She has a team of healthcare professionals and tries to work through everything she has been dealt. Changing the way cancer is treated is something that Alison is very passionate about.

While going through her diagnosis and treatment, Alison kept her diagnosis and treatment to herself, only sharing with a few close family members and friends. She did not tell her colleagues or neighbours what she was going through because she wanted to keep it private. She looked healthy!

In 2016, while still undergoing treatment and coming to terms with living with blood cancer, Alison decided that she would sign up for Light The Night! She invited her husband and sister to walk as well but when the night came, they were unable to attend. That didn’t stop Alison, she showed up to see what the walk was about by herself and she said looking around, she instantly felt supported. She saw all the other lanterns and felt the sense of community. She saw the lanterns and thought of them as a way for others to show their support.

Light The Night means SUPPORT. The sense of community at Light The Night is incredible, the feeling that you aren’t alone is very present.

There is still so much work to do in order to find a cure and to provide less toxic treatment for patients so they do not end up with life-altering conditions like chronic fatigue.