Emily Bennett calls the timing “almost comedic.”
“The day I went to the Emergency Room was the day I did my dorm shopping, and the day I got my second ... round of chemotherapy was the day I was supposed to move in.”
This was how things unfolded for Bennett, a Winkler resident who, on track to begin university, instead embarked on a journey of battling cancer when she was diagnosed a month before she turned 18.
Fast forward almost a year, and not only has Bennett received good news about her diagnosis, but she is also carrying her experience into a new project with Morden-Winkler MLA Carrie Hiebert that seeks to benefit the whole province.
A new partnership with Morden-Winkler MLA Carrie Hiebert
Recently, Bennett has begun collecting signatures to lower the breast cancer screening age from 50 to 40 in Manitoba.
It’s a project that she has undertaken with Morden-Winkler MLA Carrie Hiebert after the latter invited Bennett, her mother, and her brother to the Legislative Building in Winnipeg for a visit in mid-April.
“She actually contacted my mom first to see if I'd be interested in working on something with her, and then I was able to get in contact with the constituency, and they gave me a packet of blank petitions,” says Bennett.
“I think that as young people, we need to realize that the torch of change is being passed to us a lot quicker than we think. As my peers and I start cast our votes for the first time, it's crucial for us to realize that we aren’t just bystanders anymore, and it's our responsibility to speak out.”
-Emily Bennett, 18, on why she got involved in a petition lowering the age of breast cancer screening from 50 to 40 in the province.
Bennett jumped at the chance to become involved — she says her interest comes from “lived experience.”
“Although I don't have breast cancer, I know what it's like to fight cancer and how hard that is,” she says. “It's not just the physical symptoms that chemotherapy and immunotherapy and surgery produce, it's mentally exhausting.”
According to Bennett, screening women annually for breast cancer starting at 40 could help catch the disease earlier.
“I think that's important because it'll save a lot of women in Manitoba the mental anguish of having to go through treatment,” says Bennett.
‘I will have done something worthwhile’
Because breast cancer is the most common type of cancer in women in Canada (excluding non-melanoma skin cancers), it’s an important issue to the young advocate.
“If I can help at least ten women have a shorter journey or no journey with cancer at all, I will have done my job,” she says. “I will have done something worthwhile.”
“As young people, our voices should be the loudest. New legislation coming around in the next few years will be impacting us, not just our parents, not just our grandparents, but us. We're next. This is how we can build our future.”
-Emily Bennett on being involved in the petition to lower the breast cancer screening age from 50 to 40.
For MLA Carrie Hiebert, working with Bennett is “great.”
“She teamed up with me to help me with what we're doing as a Progressive-Conservative caucus,” she says.
“One of my colleagues ... has brought forward a petition to lower breast screening age from 50 to 40 so that we can get that breast screening done for those that need it at age 40 already. Things have changed, and we need to do this earlier in life for women.”
Collecting signatures
As for the process of lowering the screening age, Bennett is beginning by collecting signatures. Once she has a body of them, she’ll pass them along to MLA Carrie Hiebert for the next steps.
Anyone interested in lending their support can contact the constituency office in Winkler.
A multifaceted journey
Lowering the age of breast cancer screening is not the only project Bennett has tackled in the past year.
Since her life-changing diagnosis, she has been busy — and not only with fighting for her health. Bennett has shared her journey online and appeared publicly as a model in the South Central Cancer Resource Centre’s fashion show.
Bennett has also left a mark on the community with her involvement in a project that resulted in special new cancer treatment chairs at Boundary Trails Health Centre, which was the project that Hiebert honoured during Bennett’s visit to Winnipeg.
“I brought her into the legislature, and I told her story and thanked her publicly in the chamber, and everybody rose and gave her a standing ovation for the work that she did,” says Hiebert.
Related stories:
- Generous community gesture makes 18-year-old cancer patient’s wish a reality
- Winkler's Emily Bennett ends childhood with cancer diagnosis
For Bennett, everything she became involved in was about moving forward.
“Right after I got the news [that it was Stage III Hodgkin Lymphoma], it was how I coped,” she says. “I couldn't wallow in my own sadness in this hospital bed and think, ‘Oh, woe is me. I'll be sick forever.’ I had to push forward.”
Good news
Recently, after nine months and five days (she says she counted) of cancer treatments and advocating for the community, Bennett’s progress has continued in a significant way.
“I can proudly say that I am in remission,” she says.
Bennett feels she has a new life, or at the very least, “a new lease on it.”
Beyond her community projects, Bennett has another adventure on the horizon: attending Brandon University in the fall to study music.
“[It’s] really exciting because I was extremely upset that I had to put that on hold for a year. I never thought I'd be so desperate to be in a classroom,” she says.
With files from Jayme Giesbrecht and Connie Bailey