An exercise program proves life-changing for this Nova Scotia cancer patient

Since 2018, the ACCESS program has partnered the Nova Scotia Cancer Care Program and has seen over 500 participants come through the program.

An exercise research program for cancer patients has been life-changing for an eighty-year-old Nova Scotian woman.

After being diagnosed with stage three breast cancer, Roberta Whiting says she lacked motivation to do much of anything, and had to rely on her wheelchair to get around.

That was until her doctor recommended the Activating Cancer Communities through Exercise Strategy for Survivors (ACCESS) program through Dalhousie University at the QEII hospital in Halifax.

“When you first start, it’s like, oh, I’m so tired,” says Whiting. “But as you keep going, your body says, you’re doing good, keep it up, keep going. And when you walk out of here, you feel good. You’re achy, but you feel good.”

Since starting the 12-week program back in December, she no longer needs her wheelchair and has gone up from lifting five-pound weights to now lifting 10. She has also been able to return to doing what she loves, which is baking.

“I like baking, and I used to make bread, that was out, but since I’ve been here I’ve made one batch of bread, I made one bunch of tea biscuits and I also made a lemon pie,” she adds.

Aidan Nolan, the exercise physiologist and kinesiologist who runs the program twice a week, says he’s proud of the hard work Whiting is doing and how far she’s come since starting the program.

“She’s always pushing herself. She’s always asking me for more things to do, even when she comes early and I can’t maybe work with her in that moment. She’s just over in the chair doing her warmup exercises, tells me exercises that she’s doing at home between classes,” he says.