Natalie Harrison found out that she had cancer — Hodgkin’s lymphoma — on August 26, 1998.On the same date, two years later, she married André Larose, also a cancer survivor. The two met in hospital during their cancer treatments. When they were introduced, says Natalie, she had no hair because of her chemotherapy treatments: “So I knew he had to like me for more than just my good looks!”

Her marriage is just one of the many positive things Natalie managed to take away from her cancer experience.

Having cancer also made Natalie, now 32, rethink her career. When she was diagnosed, she was studying occupational therapy at the University of Ottawa. She continued with her courses during chemotherapy and radiation. “I had treatments on Wednesdays, took Thursdays off, and tried to make it back to class by Friday — or sometimes Monday.”

Natalie used her treatment as a study tool. Sitting in the chemotherapy treatment room with nine other women, she talked to them and used their experience and feedback to design a treatment plan for women with terminal cancer.

“I failed the assignment,” she says, laughing.  “My instructor thought that there was no need to treat depression in end-of-life patients. I knew better.” She decided to switch majors to leisure sciences, and began to research the importance of leisure in terminal patients. Today, she works as a recreation therapist in the palliative care unit of the Élisabeth Bruyère Health Centre in Ottawa. Having had cancer, she says, definitely gives her more insight into the needs and lives of her patients.

Both Natalie and André were lucky to have the unconditional love and support of their parents and extended families while they had cancer treatment. Natalie says that the experience brought her parents closer together: “We lived as a family with cancer. I wasn’t on my own.”

Today, Natalie and André lavish the same kind of unconditional love and support on their three children, Andréanne, 7, Guillaume, 5, and Noémie, 3. “We appreciate our kids so much more because of our experiences,” says Natalie. “You learn so much through cancer. It’s an eye-opening illness. You understand how meaningful life is — and how fragile it can be — and how to savour every second.”

“I wouldn’t wish cancer on my worst enemy,” says Natalie. “But the things I’ve learned? I would recommend them to everyone.”