Langley Times, September 04, 2015

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FRIDAY September 4, 2015 • www.langleytimes.com NEWS Breaking Ground

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SPORTS Preseason Perfection

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The other side of

cancer FAMILY DISCOVERS LONG TERM EFFECTS O F CARING FOR LOVED ONES WITH TERMINAL ILLNESS M IRAN D A G AT H E R C O L E Tim e s Re po r t e r

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hen Todd Strange entered a room, everyone knew. If it wasn’t his physique that drew attention — six-foot-three and covered in tattoos — it was his voice. Loud, goofy and always cracking jokes, he’s “that guy you always noticed if he was there, and if he wasn’t there, you definitely knew, too,” said his wife, Ashley. For the last two years, all of his friends and family have noticed his absence. ••• Todd often used his size to his advantage. Nicknamed the defender of the meek and weak, it wasn’t unusual for him to end up in hockey fights or bar fights while trying to protect the little guy. “I call him my angel with tattered wings,” his mother, Chris, said with a laugh. It was that same chivalry that sparked Ashley’s curiosity. She met Todd while floating down the Penticton River channel in the summer of 2006. “We talked for the entire time,” she recalled, with a smile. “And I was just like, ‘This guy is amazing.’” There was something intriguing about the 19-year-old, and Ashley, a recent HD Stafford graduate, couldn’t help but notice the deep scars along his neck and his chest — battle wounds from a fight, it turns out. This one with cancer.

“He said to me, ‘don’t pity me, don’t feel sorry for me,’” Ashley said. “If cancer ever came up, that’s how he made sure people would feel about him. He didn’t want people to feel sorry for him.” When he was 18 years old, Todd was diagnosed with Stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma, a form of cancer in the lymph nodes of the body. It presented as a lump in his neck, but was primary in his sternum and bronchi. Between October, 2005 and November, 2006 he underwent 12 chemotherapy treatments and was declared cancer-free. “He just seemed so strong and he wanted everyone to think that he was strong and he could protect everyone,” Ashley said. “I guess I never thought that his cancer could come back or would come back, just because he was so tough.” It wasn’t supposed to come back, but it did. At a routine checkup 18 months later, doctors informed Todd that not only had the cancer returned, he also needed a stem cell transplant. “I was panicking,” Ashley said. “I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to handle it. I didn’t know what I was going to say.” She arrived at Todd’s parents’ house that night and found him sitting in the living room, completely silent. “I came and sat on the chair with him and he just started bawling his eyes out,” she said. Continued Page 4

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