Me wearing mask
White male (Michael) lying on a hospital bed with his hand reaching toward me

Hi, I'm Christine

In September of 2018, my husband, Michael, was diagnosed with the "good" kind of throat cancer. In June, 2020, he was diagnosed with a completely new, unrelated, "not-so-good kind" of large-cell cancer in his lungs. By November 2022, he was dead.

Like all inspiring cancer stories, I learned some valuable lessons along the way:


  • Don't call 9-1-1 while you're naked from the shower. Duhhhhhhhh. Seems obvious, but it wasn't the first time I'd done that.

  • People sometimes talk about the "good" cancers or the "bad" cancers to get, but spoiler alert: there's no good kind. He was especially unlucky because although his terminal cancer is the most commonly-diagnosed cancer of all, it receives the least amount of research funding. He also had the rarest sub-type of it. Despite this, he never gave up hope that if he could survive long enough, there might be new treatments. Spoiler alert: he didn't.

  • There are doughnuts in purgatory—cancer purgatory, that is. Trust me on this. I still carry the evidence around my skeleton to prove it.

  • Cancer is a serious business, although you might have already noticed that I often use humour as a coping mechanism (and food: see previous note on doughnuts.) These days, I'm using my extensive professional experience with speaking, writing, and advocating to try to improve systems, policies, and education for cancer patients and the people who love them.

    Thanks for visiting. There is more about our story below.

    Our Story

    Many years ago, I had a romantic partner (actually, not very romantic as it turned out) who once snapped at me, "You don't want to be in love, you want to be in love in a MOVIE." He didn't believe that movie love was a real thing.

    When I met Michael, I knew I had found it.

    More about us, our love story, and the short version of our complicated and challenging cancer experiences, coming soon.

    In the meantime, you might want to read more about Michael in the column I wrote for the Globe & Mail "Lives Lived" feature.

    And yes, he did make me the heart in the snow shown here. After 20 years of marriage. While he was sick with cancer. Like I said: movie love.


    giant heart stamped in the snow as sun sets over the trees
    1
    Primary Cancers
    1
    Surgeries
    1
    Carotid Artery Hemorrhages
    1
    Weeks of Chemotherapy
    1
    Rounds of Radiation 
    1
    Weeks of Immunotherapy
    1
    Clinical Trial
    1
    Days in Hospital

    Professional Experience

    For over 20 years, I worked as a Career Advisor at Queen's University, assisting thousands of students—from first year to PhD in a wide variety of disciplines from art history to computer engineering—to connect creatively and authentically with work or school that suited their goals and aspirations. I also worked 1-1 and created and taught career and CaRMS workshops for aspiring and current medical students and residents.

    From 2007-2021, I assisted medical school applicants, residency and fellowship applicants, mid-career professionals, and academics in my private practice (Career Cupid), helping with application and interview strategies and career exploration.

    I am the author of two traditionally-published career books and have written for various career-related websites and magazines as well as more generally for publications including The Globe and Mail.

    I have 25+ years of experience engaging audiences in workshops, conference presentations and webinars, from small groups up to as many as 700 people. 

    I was awarded a campus accessibility award and nominated for a 2019 Ontario Premier's Award. Due to my ongoing commitment to and interest in accessibility issues, I was very privileged to be appointed by the Minister of Community and Social Services to the Employment Standards Development Committee of the Accessibility Directorate of Ontario for two years, where we created legislation that has now been rolled out as the Advancing Accessibility in Ontario Framework. 

    Speaking & Workshops