THUNDER BAY -- Last July, Margarita Szymczak-Grzyb was all but packed and ready to head to Alaska to continue her studies.
A routine physical, a mere formality in her mind, stopped her in her tracks.
Her doctor delivered the news no one at any age, let alone a 23-year-old, wants to hear.
She had cancer.
The budding psychologist thought her life was over.
“They ended up finding a cyst on my left ovary. They didn’t really think it was anything, but it ended up developing and becoming something. It was an ovarian tumor,” she said Friday, moments before leading the first lap at the annual Relay for Life at Fort William Historical Park.
Szymczak-Grzyb, a graduate of Lakehead University, is one of the lucky ones.
Two surgeries later her doctors deemed her cancer-free.
Still, it was a frightening ordeal, she said.
“To be quite frank and honest, I just fell to pieces. I just cried and I became very depressed. It was really hard to swallow. My life flashed before my eyes, all these hopes and dreams that I had, they almost seemed impossible at that point,” Szymczak-Grzyb said.
“It was very scary.”
Thankfully she had plenty of supports in place, from her own family to her boyfriend and his family, not to mention a network of friends.
She told the crowd that anytime she got down, they were there to help pick her back up again, willing her to recovery at times.
Szymczak-Grzyb said she’s gone public with her story for a number of reasons, but first and foremost to warn others her age that cancer doesn’t just strike down older people.
“I got lucky. It was such a low grade of cancer and such a low stage that I’m good to go. There are a lot of people who aren’t,” she said.
“As dorky as it is to say, it was definitely fate. I was quite lucky and maybe somebody is watching over me. But there are a lot of people who aren’t as lucky as I am.”
Over the past decade-and-a-half, Relay for Life, the single-biggest fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society’s Thunder Bay branch, has raised more than $1.5 million.
Organizer Maria Cabral said they’re hoping to raise about $100,000 in 2016, despite have just 32 teams taking part, down from 60 at the annual event’s peak.
The money is much-needed, she said.
“It is essential to raise this money so we can continue with the programs and services we offer to help people through their cancer journey,” she said. “In Margarita’s case, it was transportation. We got her to Hamilton to have the surgery that we needed.”
The money is also used for research and other supports locally and regionally.
“And it’s making people feel like they’re not alone when they’re newly diagnosed. We’re here to help them.”