Receiving a diagnosis of stage 4 melanoma and sharing the news (Chris’s story)

March 1, 2011

In this video, Chris talks about receiving and sharing the news of his diagnosis, having chemotherapy and focusing on his daughter to stay positive

Watch as Chris, age 36, talks about what it felt like to hear his diagnosis of stage 4 metastatic melanoma. He also talks about how he shared the news with others and what chemotherapy has been like. He touches on peoples’ expectations and how becoming a father after his diagnosis, gave him and his wife something positive to focus on.

Chris Zeigler was interviewed in 2009. He passed away in 2010. He lived in Thunder Bay, Ontario and worked as a systems administrator for Lakehead University.

It’s kind of funny, but what I try to do is, I basically bury my head in the sand. You go through your day and almost pretend you don’t even have cancer and that’s one of the ways you try to get through it.

Watch the video of Chris talking about stage 4 melanoma

The Partnership’s Person-Centred Perspective initiative is committed to improving the patient experience. We are working with partners across Canada to find the best ways to offer a person-centred perspective throughout a person’s cancer journey and to help information flow throughout. The impact of a cancer diagnosis goes far beyond the physical disease. It affects every aspect of a person’s life. The initiative has focused on reporting about the patient experience, and giving health-care providers patient-centred tools and resources, which have been validated and standardized.

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