Cancer opens door to new life.

• Author: HUHTALA, SARI

"Way down there in no man's land in an old green shack" amidst the tall pines and the rustling leaves, bears tumble and roll in an open field, and sit and swat at a pair of old sneakers dangling from a clothesline.

For Donna O'Connor, this homestead is a sanctuary. It is a reprieve. It is heaven on earth.

A sense of euphoria sweeps over O'Connor as she lifts her head to smile at the bears in her backyard, then adds a stitch to the stuffed bear she is crafting by hand.

Clutching a worn, leather medicine pouch, O'Connor unravels the ties and shakes a tiny ivory bear into the palm of her hand. In Native belief, the bear symbolizes healing. For O'Connor, the bears are a reminder of the path she travelled over the past eight years rewriting her script in life - a script which no longer portrays cancer as the antagonist.

How paradoxical that she should thank the Lord for a disease that ravaged her body nearly a decade ago. Yet that same disease changed her life forever, urged her on to a path of self-discovery and greater fullfilment from life, she says.

"You're whole life changes after cancer," O'Connor says. "I have never ever regretted having cancer. Today, I thank God for having cancer. My whole way of thinking is different. I don't care anymore if there are spots on the spoons. I've never had this quality of life before."

O'Connor and her family moved to this homestead in Wahnapitae, just outside of Sudbury, 25 years ago. Their lifestyle has always been simplistic, she says. And though she was content with the life she had, raising her three children and meeting the needs of her family, there was something missing - a true sense of authentic self, a chance to get to know and love the passionate woman inside of her.

In 1993, when she discovered she had breast cancer, her life changed forever. Doctors gave her six months to live, nine at the most because the cancer had spread to other areas of her body. O'Connor, who was 48-years-old at the time, accepted the plight she was facing, yet was never once frightened of what lay ahead of her, she says. Her three daughters, now aged 30, 36 and 38, were all grown up at the time.

But the mind is a powerful tool, and she was not yet willing to acquiesce to the fact that her life would come to an end so soon, she says.

"I'm a very stubborn German," O'Connor says. "When the doctors said' You're going to die,' I said 'Okay, but I really don't think I'm going to die because I'm quite busy now."'

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