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Terminal brain cancer has given Paul Dewar a chance to revisit the existential questions he asked himself in his 20s about the meaning of life.
Only now, it isn’t a theoretical exercise.
“It’s real,” the former member of parliament said Monday in his first sit-down interview since he was diagnosed on Feb. 8 with Grade 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive, incurable form of brain cancer.
“This is a moment you don’t ask for. I certainly didn’t, but I have realized it for what it is. It is another gift along the way and the gift is you’re being given a moment to see what life is, what it can be and what it has been,” said Dewar, 55.
For the highly-respected New Democrat MP who represented Ottawa Centre from 2006 to 2015, part of this personal reckoning has led to a new initiative called Youth Action Now.
The goal is to raise money to “support grassroots change driven by young people” in creating new spaces for recreation and art, increasing safety in their communities and helping newcomers adjust to life in Canada.
Through conferences, small-group forums and internships, young leaders will hone their skills, expand their networks and build the confidence they need to step into leadership roles, according the initiative’s mission statement.
Dewar will formally launch it June 19 at the National Arts Centre. He hopes it will be his lasting legacy.
“A better world is possible,” he writes in an open letter on the initiative’s website. “I believe in the power of the next generation of leaders to get us there. I want to do my part in unleashing that power.”
Despite the dreadful diagnosis, Dewar said he’s “really quite good.
“There’s been very sad times, but there’s been incredibly profound joy and taking in all the life that’s around you and the beauty that surrounds you,” he said.
Julia Sneyd added that her husband has always been a “persistent optimist” (The couple celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary later this month).
They have felt the community’s love and support — colleagues and neighbours have delivered meals to their Old Ottawa East home night after night, filling a cooler that sits on the front porch. A box in the living room spills over with cards and notes.
Dewar’s energy level is good most days, though he joked he didn’t run the half-marathon during Ottawa Race Weekend last month. Surgery has affected the motor control in his left arm.
With sons Nathaniel, 22, and Jordan, 19, the Dewars spend lots of time together as a family. They went to a U2 concert in Montreal last week and have been enjoying time at the cottage (Dewar often tweets pictures of the flora and fauna). “We’re trying to make the most of it,” he said.
Ever since Dewar lost his seat to Liberal Catherine McKenna in 2015, there have been rumblings he should run for mayor. His mother, Marion Dewar, was mayor from 1978 to 1985. She is warmly remembered as a feminist, peace activist and instigator of Project 4000, under which Ottawa residents sponsored some 4,000 Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian refugees.
He had basically decided to do it, but the cancer diagnosis snuffed out that chance. “I just thought we could do a lot better in this city in terms of a voice for neighbourhoods.”
The ghost of amalgamation still haunts city hall, where the downtown is often pitted against the suburbs.
“It shouldn’t be that way. There’s enough in common and there needs to be a different approach to how citizens are heard and I had some ideas that I wanted to pursue.”
For Dewar, whose first career was in the classroom, the recent months have offered an urgent lesson in cherishing moments and relationships, and embracing emotions.
“When you are confronted with death, it really does give you a way to allow your emotions to be unleashed. There’s nothing wrong with showing your emotions and love to the people around you,” he said, his voice shaky as he looked across the room to where Sneyd sat.
The only treatment available to Dewar is surgery, which he underwent a week after receiving the diagnosis, followed by radiation and successive rounds of chemotherapy.
He is receiving complementary care from the Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre, is participating in a medical trial at a clinic in Gatineau, and now follows a low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet intended to starve the cancer cells of the sugar they crave.
In recent months, he has found much strength in the words of his reverend at First United Church, Brian Cornelius, who has urged him and his family to “face death and walk back into life.”
Death is inevitable, so how do you live life fully until that day comes?
Tragically Hip singer Gord Downie had the same type of brain cancer and, from diagnosis to death, lived 14 months. Others live longer. Dewar did not express the remainder of his life in weeks or months. It’s impossible to know how the tumour will grow and what that could affect, so he and his family take it one day at a time.
No dress rehearsal, this is our life, as Downie once sang.
“You make plans as much as you can make plans,” Sneyd said.
mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
Only now, it isn’t a theoretical exercise.
“It’s real,” the former member of parliament said Monday in his first sit-down interview since he was diagnosed on Feb. 8 with Grade 4 glioblastoma, an aggressive, incurable form of brain cancer.
“This is a moment you don’t ask for. I certainly didn’t, but I have realized it for what it is. It is another gift along the way and the gift is you’re being given a moment to see what life is, what it can be and what it has been,” said Dewar, 55.
For the highly-respected New Democrat MP who represented Ottawa Centre from 2006 to 2015, part of this personal reckoning has led to a new initiative called Youth Action Now.
The goal is to raise money to “support grassroots change driven by young people” in creating new spaces for recreation and art, increasing safety in their communities and helping newcomers adjust to life in Canada.
Through conferences, small-group forums and internships, young leaders will hone their skills, expand their networks and build the confidence they need to step into leadership roles, according the initiative’s mission statement.
Dewar will formally launch it June 19 at the National Arts Centre. He hopes it will be his lasting legacy.
“A better world is possible,” he writes in an open letter on the initiative’s website. “I believe in the power of the next generation of leaders to get us there. I want to do my part in unleashing that power.”
Despite the dreadful diagnosis, Dewar said he’s “really quite good.
“There’s been very sad times, but there’s been incredibly profound joy and taking in all the life that’s around you and the beauty that surrounds you,” he said.
Julia Sneyd added that her husband has always been a “persistent optimist” (The couple celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary later this month).
They have felt the community’s love and support — colleagues and neighbours have delivered meals to their Old Ottawa East home night after night, filling a cooler that sits on the front porch. A box in the living room spills over with cards and notes.
Dewar’s energy level is good most days, though he joked he didn’t run the half-marathon during Ottawa Race Weekend last month. Surgery has affected the motor control in his left arm.
With sons Nathaniel, 22, and Jordan, 19, the Dewars spend lots of time together as a family. They went to a U2 concert in Montreal last week and have been enjoying time at the cottage (Dewar often tweets pictures of the flora and fauna). “We’re trying to make the most of it,” he said.
Ever since Dewar lost his seat to Liberal Catherine McKenna in 2015, there have been rumblings he should run for mayor. His mother, Marion Dewar, was mayor from 1978 to 1985. She is warmly remembered as a feminist, peace activist and instigator of Project 4000, under which Ottawa residents sponsored some 4,000 Vietnamese, Cambodian and Laotian refugees.
He had basically decided to do it, but the cancer diagnosis snuffed out that chance. “I just thought we could do a lot better in this city in terms of a voice for neighbourhoods.”
The ghost of amalgamation still haunts city hall, where the downtown is often pitted against the suburbs.
“It shouldn’t be that way. There’s enough in common and there needs to be a different approach to how citizens are heard and I had some ideas that I wanted to pursue.”
For Dewar, whose first career was in the classroom, the recent months have offered an urgent lesson in cherishing moments and relationships, and embracing emotions.
“When you are confronted with death, it really does give you a way to allow your emotions to be unleashed. There’s nothing wrong with showing your emotions and love to the people around you,” he said, his voice shaky as he looked across the room to where Sneyd sat.
The only treatment available to Dewar is surgery, which he underwent a week after receiving the diagnosis, followed by radiation and successive rounds of chemotherapy.
He is receiving complementary care from the Ottawa Integrative Cancer Centre, is participating in a medical trial at a clinic in Gatineau, and now follows a low-carb, high-fat ketogenic diet intended to starve the cancer cells of the sugar they crave.
In recent months, he has found much strength in the words of his reverend at First United Church, Brian Cornelius, who has urged him and his family to “face death and walk back into life.”
Death is inevitable, so how do you live life fully until that day comes?
Tragically Hip singer Gord Downie had the same type of brain cancer and, from diagnosis to death, lived 14 months. Others live longer. Dewar did not express the remainder of his life in weeks or months. It’s impossible to know how the tumour will grow and what that could affect, so he and his family take it one day at a time.
No dress rehearsal, this is our life, as Downie once sang.
“You make plans as much as you can make plans,” Sneyd said.
mpearson@postmedia.com
twitter.com/mpearson78
查看原文...
