"Who are you?": A Poem by Bev Riediger, Patient Working Group member

Who are you? 

By Bev Riediger, Patient Working Group Member

You are not a stranger,
But you are unknown to many.
You are not simple to understand,
But many are striving to do so.
You are expensive,
But slowly becoming more affordable.
You are not available everywhere,
But accessibility is becoming easier.
Your complexity is overwhelming,
But your smallest parts are the solution.
You are the new focus of attention,
But old habits are hard to break.
You are looking for the right person,
But the timing needs to be perfect.
You need to become the norm,
But it is so difficult to convince everyone.
You are the way of the future,
But perhaps not the only solution.
You are the answer to many prayers,
But you are comprised of many genetic layers.
You have many names,
But there needs to be no apology.

You are known,
Simply as Precision Oncology.

*Bev Riediger, a member of the MOHCCN Patient Working Group from Winnipeg, has loved to write her entire life.  She enjoys participating in weekly creative writing workshops and interacting with other amateur writers.  Now retired, Bev has a B.A. and M.A. in Political Science and Public Administration.

Bev was first diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2005 and again in 2020.  She has been a CancerCare Manitoba volunteer since 2006, when she became a regular contributor and member of the editorial board of Our Voice, a patient run CCMB publication.  She is currently a CCMB Patient Advisor and a Patient Partner of the Health Services Research Lab at CCMB’s Paul Albrechtsen Research Lab.