HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2006-09-14, Page 6Ready to run
Abi Corbett of Brussels, a breast cancer survivor will lead the local Terry Fox
Run on Sunday as the 2006 Terry's Team Member for Brussels. (Bonnie Gropp
photo)
We Couldn't Celebrate Our
135th Birthday Without You.
Remember when the whole community pitched in to help
a neighbour in need? That spirit lives on at South Easthope Mutual.
We're here when you need us and have been for 135 years.
Call Us Today.
South Easthope Mutual Insurance
1-800-263-9987 www.seins.on.ca
Farm & Urban Property • Auto Insurance
Working Together For Insurance That Works.
PAGE 6. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2006.
Breast cancer survivor leads Brussels Run
By Bonnie Gropp
Citizen editor
It's a word heard far too
frequently, a word that brings
fear and uncertainty into
someone's life.
Brussels' Terry's Team
Member for this year's Terry
Fox Run, Abi Corbett was 40
when cancer became part of
her life.
The fear began when she
found a small lump in her
right breast. "I had always
done self-examinations,
faithfully. This time I felt a
lump that was about a quarter
of an inch in size. I phone the
doctor immediately."
• Though there was no family
history of cancer, Corbett said
she never doubted that it was
serious. "I knew right away. I
told my husband this is not
normal, it's not moving. This
is bad."
She was right. Following a
mammogram and biopsy
Corbett underwent a radical
mastectomy on Oct. 31.
"Everything happened within
three to four weeks. It was a
Halloween I'll never forget,"
she smiles.
After "healing" Corbett
began chemo treatments in
Wingham during the holiday
season. She was so grateful to
have the treatment available
to her so close to home. "I
couldn't imagine having to
drive to London for this."
The trip was made every
three weeks for four months.
When asked about the
therapy, a shadow crosses the
normally upbeat Corbett's
face. "I was so very tired. I
usually spent the first week on
the couch, then one week not
too bad, then one week I was
great before they knocked me
down again."
The one thing that kept her
going was her twin sons'
hockey games. "I'd made it to
them if I could. That would
often be all I could handle,
though."
Though the anti-nausea
medication kept her from
being ill, Corbett couldn't
always keep her spirits from
flagging. "I got pretty
depressed. That week was so
awful, was so awful, but
everybody just kept pushing."
Her feelings towards the
chemotherapy are so strong
that she hesitates before
saying she would go through
the treatment again if it ever
became necessary. "If it came
down to it, I guess I would,
because my family wouldn't
let it be any other way. But I
can certainly understand why
people don't want to go
through it a second time."
Corbett praises the
community for the support
they gave her. "It was great.
Everybody was always
stopping by seeing what they
could do, bringing us stuff."
Her family too, husband
Charles and sons Adam and
Chris, were incredible.
"Charles was absolutely
fantastic. He did everything
he needed to do to make it as
easy as possible for me."
The boys, she said, were
"pretty fantastic" but
describes the experience as an
eye-opener for them. "You
hear that word cancer... "
"(One of the boys) heard
about someone who died from
breast cancer and got really
concerned. I told him that I
was going to be around to
make his life miserable for as
long as possible," she smiles.
Now back to work, with a
clean bill of health, Corbett
continues to take a new
p-reventative medication.
"Every three weeks I take
herseptum through a
portacath. It's a very new drug
so they don't know a lot about
what side effects there may
be. Sometimes I call the
doctor to ask if a certain
symptom I'm having is a side-
effect or something else, and
he often has to look into it."
Corbett also takes
tamoxifen, to reduce the
chance of a recurrence.
The thing with cancer is
that it's not just about the
illness, but about its total
control. Regarding the hair
loss, the debilitating
weakness, and the weight
gain that followed the chemo,
Corbett has kept a common
sense attitude. ;In the big
picture, none of that matters.
By Keith Roulson
Citizen publisher
An amendment to Huron
Eases official plan that
changes the land use
designation for the Walton
motocross track and a golf
course at Cranbrook was
approved by Huron County
council, Sept. 7.
The county planning
department had recommended
that both these changes be
deferred until a needs study
had been completed in
accordance to requirements of
the provincial policy
statement for planning.
But at the August meeting
of the planning, agriculture
and public works committee
attended by Jack McLachlan,
Huron East clerk
administrator and Brad
Knight, the municipality's
treasurer and _finance
manager, the committee voted
to recommend apiiroyal of the
amendment without those two
deferrals.
Bernie MacLellan,
councillor for Huron East
noted at the Sept. 7 meeting
that the-moto-cross park had
been in use for 10 years or
more. "Its need is already
proven. How do you justify
requiring a needs study for a
property that is already
It will all get fixed
eventually."
Now Corbett wants to focus
her energies on the fight. For
this purpose she has been
involved in the recent Relay
for Life, the Run for a Cure
and agreed to be Terry's Team
Member this year in Brussels.
"We need to get as much
money as we can for cancer
research. When people see
working and has brought a lot
of business into the
community?"
Warden Rob Morley noted
the same situation applies to
the golf course.
"Maybe if the province
feels so strongly about a needs
study they should pay for it,"
added Joe Seili, councillor for
Huron East.
"I have problems with the
provincial policy statement,"
argued Ben Van Diepenbeek,
councillor for Ashfield-
Colborne-Wawanosh.
"They're dictating to us.
They've overruling what we
want."
Dorothy Kelly, councillor
for Morris-Turnberry, said her
With Huron County warden
Rob Morley not seeking a
second term, two councillors
have announced plans to seek
the warden's chair in
December.
Goderich councillor Deb
Shewfelt, who is also the
town's mayor, was first to
announce his candidacy at the
September meeting of county
council, Thursday.
He was followed moments
later by Paul Klopp,
Bluewater councillor and
someone who has survived
they're more willing to
support it."
But while research is
important so it education.
"The scary thing with
breast cancer is that it spreads
so quickly. Do a self-
examination regularly. Have
regular checkups. If it's
caught early you can beat
it."
municipality's official plan
wasn't what councillors
wanted. "It was what we were
allowed to have."
While council went against
the planning department
recommendations on those
two changes, they did agree to
defer changing the
designation of a 20-acre
parcel of land at the north side
of Seaforth from agriculture
to urban. The property would
contain a new municipal well.
Before the designation can
be changed an expanded
comprehensive review for the
need to change farmland to
urban land will need to be
completed under the
provincial policy statement.
former MPP for Huron-Bruce,
who said he also planned to
run for deputy mayor of his
municipality.
Both men will need to be
successful in the upcoming
municipal election before
being eligible for the post.
Morley noted that if both
are still in the running come
December, this is the first
time since 2001 there had
been an election.
"It's healthy," added
Shewfelt.
Huron East official plan
amendment receives
county council approval
2 vie for warden