Cancer prognosis no match for Sault woman’s enthusiasm

The past three years have been a rollercoaster ride for Sault Ste. Marie resident Sherri Rathwell.

Married with three children, the long-time paramedic was living an active lifestyle filled with weightlifting, running, and spending quality time with her kids prior to the pandemic.

But in the summer of 2020, her whole life flipped overnight.

“We were moving my parents’ furniture out of their house since they were moving, and I found I was a bit more winded than usual,” she says. “During a Father’s Day dinner, I actually fell asleep at the table.”

“I called the doctor and he sent me for bloodwork, and when the results came back, I had to go for ultrasounds and CT scans.”

Shortly after, Rathwell received a call that she had been diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), which is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow.

“I had just been watching my kids swimming in the pool and laughing, and then I got the call,” she says. “It was devastating. They said it would be the fight of my life.”

Given a poor prognosis early on, Rathwell was immediately transported to Sudbury by ambulance for treatment where she would do two rounds of chemotherapy to get her into remission.

Several months later, Rathwell’s medical team discovered a perfect bone marrow match, and she went to Ottawa in November 2020 to have a successful bone marrow transplant.

The four months she spent in Ottawa – isolated in a pandemic and far from home – was beyond difficult for the mother of three.

“It was heartbreaking,” she says. “I hadn’t been away from my kids for their entire lives. But when I left in November, I told them I’d be home in February. It was 117 days.”

“For me, it was a job,” she adds. “I had certain meds I had to take at certain times. I had to take naps, go see the doctor, walk, and stay active. I had a job to do in Ottawa, and that was to get home to my family, so I did what I had to do and that was it.”

Grateful for her bone marrow transplant, Rathwell decided to reach out to her donor one year after receiving her transplant as per the hospital’s process.

“I was able to connect with her in November of 2021,” she says. “She was actually two floors up from me in the same hospital when I was receiving the treatment. We could have stood in the elevator together and not have even known.”

Originally from Nova Scotia, Rathwell’s donor – a 26-year-old student – was attending school in Ottawa at the time of the transplant.

“She was a ten-on-ten match,” Rathwell says. “It was great that someone so young was willing to do that for someone they don’t know.”

“We contact each other every couple of months or so through email now. She lives in B.C. now, but I’d love to meet her one day.”

Rathwell soon learned that her donor is into running and takes part in races periodically throughout the year, which inspired the long-time paramedic to get back on her feet again.

“I started thinking that I needed to get back out and active again,” she says. “I downloaded the couch-to-5k app on my phone, and I eventually did the Run the Great Lakes in honour of her.”

On top of conquering Run the Great Lakes last year, Rathwell went on to run in two more races, including the Terry Fox Run, where she was cheered on by her husband Tyler and her kids Ella, Olivia, and William – a support system she has greatly relied on throughout her cancer journey.

“My husband and my dad stayed in the Sault and held down the fort with the kids while I was gone,” she says. “My mom, who came with me for treatments, is a retired oncology nurse, so she knew what to look for and how to give the drugs and help my symptoms.”

“I had wicked support from my family of course but also family and friends near and far,” she adds. “The community, my EMS and Fire brothers and sisters, strangers from all over – it was overwhelming.”

Rathwell says she’s looking forward to participating in Run the Great Lakes again this year, which will take place June 11 at the Delta Hotel in support of the Sault Area Hospital Foundation and ARCH Hospice.

“Originally, I said I was done with running after last year’s Great Lakes run because I wasn’t a fan of running,” she says. “As it starts to come around though, I’m going to start running again.”

“I’m excited to do it again," she adds. "I always think, ‘you couldn’t do this two years ago,’ and now I have a second chance, so I’ll definitely be making the best of it.”

Today, Rathwell is 100 per cent in remission and is currently on a maintenance low-dose chemo as a clinical trial.

“The doctors are ecstatic with how well I made out during it and after,” she says. “I just want people to see that it doesn’t always end bad.”

“Live for today because tomorrow is never promised.”