More than six years since his cancer diagnosis – a period that has included multiple surgeries and two rounds of radiation treatment and chemotherapy – Mike Lambert admits that he prays a lot more than he used to.
“Think positive,” said the 66-year-old Tseshaht member. “I’m not ready to go. I’m not done down here yet.”
The Port Alberni resident is currently on his second round of chemotherapy, bi-weekly treatments he has been getting from Nanaimo since June. For the time being, these will continue indefinitely – as long as a growth on his liver and numerous nodules in his lungs don’t considerably worsen.
It all started more than six years ago when tests were being done on a hernia infection to his right side. A colonoscopy didn’t detect any problems, but concerns arose when doctors investigated the inside of the stomach.
“They went in from the bottom end and everything was good there, but when they went in to check for the hernia through the stomach they bumped into some cancer,” said Lambert, who received his diagnosis on April 22, 2019.
The tumor was against a large blood vessel, which made surgical removal a hazardous procedure. Six months of chemotherapy ensued to shrink the tumor and pull it away from the blood vessel, enabling surgeons to then remove it.
By the beginning of the following year Lambert was ready for Whipple surgery, a procedure that removes the head of pancreas, the first part of the small intestine, gall bladder and bile duct. Performed on Jan. 10, 2020, the remaining organs were rejoined to allow food to pass through what remained of Lambert’s digestive system.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic took over, delaying the regular X-rays Lambert needed to monitor if the cancer was growing elsewhere. Eventually tests detected cancer in his left lung, which led to more surgery to remove the organ’s bottom lobe and part of the top.
But after radiation treatment cancer was found in the right lung, where it remains today.
“They were monitoring that one and it was staying stable for a few years. It still is, as far as I know,” said Lambert.
The disease also spread to a vertebrae in his spine.
“It was also pinching a nerve that was going into my hip and down my leg,” he said. “It was causing severe pain.”
And so, after another round of radiation treatment Lambert was on the operating table one more on Dec. 10, 2025. Surgeons removed some cancer from his spine, injecting a cement-like substance to prevent the damaged vertebrae from collapsing further, while entombing what cancer remains. Lambert was told that any cancerous cells that remained would die due to the cement preventing oxygen from entering the affected area.
He was awake during the procedure, and recalls a doctor tapping at the cement on his spine after it dried.
“He was hammering on my spine with a little hammer like the gold diggers do,” said Lambert.
Watch for changes in your body, says cancer society
Lambert’s situation isn’t unusual, as 42 per cent of people will get cancer at some point in their life, according to the Canadian Cancer Society. For men, prostate cancer is the most common form of the disease, while breast cancer leads among women. Lung cancer comes in second for both sexes, and is the leading cause of the disease ending someone’s life. The cancer society estimates that 22 per cent of Canadians will die from some form of cancer.
Four in 10 cancer cases can be prevented by healthy life choices like not smoking, limiting overexposure to the sun, maintaining a healthy body weight, staying physically active, having a healthy diet and minimizing alcohol consumption, says the Canadian Cancer Society.
It’s also advisable to watch out for certain changes in your body.
“When you notice something different about your body – like a new growth or lump, increased fatigue or dramatic weight loss – it needs to be checked out,” stated the cancer society. “A change to your body might be nothing, but it might be serious. Always see a healthcare provider if there are any changes to how you’re feeling or you have new physical symptoms. Get changes checked sooner rather than later.”
“No one’s ever told me why I got it, if it’s from eating certain foods or what,” reflected Lambert, who is feeling the effects from years of cancer treatment.
He has neuropathy below his knees, a cold sensation resulting from nerve damage.
“In my feet it feels like I’ve got sand in my socks all the time, in my toes,” he said. “I also lost some of my taste buds, where gravy doesn’t taste like gravy, stuffing doesn’t taste like stuffing at Christmas time.”
But despite this toll on his body, Lambert remains hopeful.
“Never give up,” he said. “Take what you believe with Indian cultural medicine, stuff like that.”
“I’m glad my family has been there whenever I’m in Victoria for these surgeries because that’s my medicine,” he added. “It’s good to wake up to see someone you’re used to seeing.”
Over the last weekend of January a Port Alberni ball hockey team took to the floor of Maht Mahs to compete for Lambert, while wearing the name of his late sister Sandra who passed in 2020 from a cancer that started with a lump on her breast. The back of the team’s shirts display the caption ‘Mike’s a Warrior’.
Attracting 15 teams from across the coast, the tournament served as a fundraising event to help seven people in their struggles with cancer, including Lambert, who goes by the nick name “Rambo”.
“I’m not ready to go nowhere yet,” said Lambert. “Cancer never met Rambo.”
The Canadian Cancer Society has specialists available at 1-888-939-3333 to help people detect the disease early.
