Cancer is the leading cause of death in Canada and one in four Canadians will die from it. The Eisner family knows all too well about how cancer can take a loved one. This past summer they lost their wife and mother, Robyn and her husband, Jason, still grapples with her loss and just how the whole scenario played out.
“Robyn was the kind of person that saw the good in everyone,” said Eisner. “I never heard her say a bad thing about anybody in the 29 years we were together. She focused on the positives, never the negatives. She loved her children, Rayna and Maddix, first and foremost as well as exotic vacations, family gatherings and spending quality time with friends playing games or just simply socializing.
“She loved the outdoors such as camping, water sports, bike rides for ice cream, her flower gardens, sipping wine on the neighbours' decks, or relaxing in our hot tub. One of her favourite activities was cross-country skiing with the Nordic Girls. She would always comment on how good it felt after getting some exercise and being out with the girls.
“Robyn had a magical smile and a genuine concern for people's feelings, which reflected throughout her daily life at work and at home,” said Eisner. “She was easy to talk to, never judged what was going on in a person’s life and was always there for anyone that needed free advice. I truly think that will be missed the most for she was a constant reliable friend to all.”
The discovery of Robyn’s cancer wasn’t as apparent as the normal warning signs. The symptoms she was experiencing at the time seemed to amount to feeling run down, but it wound up being so much more.
“To say it was an emotional rollercoaster would be an understatement, for it's so tough to describe,” said Eisner. “I’m the kind of guy that can fix almost anything and having something like this attack the one you have been with for almost 30 years, and not being able to physically do anything to help, literally broke my heart.
“We were on vacation for spring break in Orlando and she seemed to be sleeping in a lot, which was not normal for her. Normally, she was up at 6:30 a.m. getting us a coffee and having a leisurely walk around to see the layout of the resorts. We chalked it up to her being a bit stressed from work and her body was unwinding, so sleep was a good thing.
“When we got home from our vacation, the tiredness for her got worse by the week,” said Eisner. “Within a few weeks, she was having naps through her lunch breaks, coffee breaks and having a nap after work for a few hours and then going to bed for the night at 9 p.m. Night sweats got worse and her appetite began to decrease, so she called a doctor to make an appointment. After the doctor's visit, he felt it was likely pre-menopause related, as she was almost 48 and it seemed most likely as otherwise, she seemed normal.
“He scheduled a blood test for precautionary purposes but two weeks went by with no call to go so, upon follow-up, it was determined the request didn’t get sent. We ended up going to the emergency department and met with Dr. Koetting. She quickly gave her blood tests and an X-ray. Based on the blood test results, she said she wanted Robyn to spend the night and go for a CT scan the next morning in Dauphin via ambulance. At this point, we still were just expecting some sort of bad flu bug.
“The next day, when she got back to Swan River, the doctor called me in and told us that the CT showed that her liver was full of what looked like cancer tumours,” continued Eisner. “She explained it wasn’t a good scenario and we needed to do a colonoscopy to search for the primary tumour, as the liver is a catch-all-filter and there’s likely something in her colon."
Shortly after it was confirmed she did, in fact, have a large tumour in her colon and a few days later it was removed by a surgeon in Dauphin. The battle against cancer was now on for Robyn. Little did they know just how limited their options would be in fighting the cancer that had already spread.
“The tumour was removed successfully, but we still had a fully infested liver to deal with and hoped chemo would take care of that,” said Eisner. “We had to wait six weeks for her surgery to heal but, at the end of the term, she was too weak and was denied a chemo option. We were given two and a half months at that time.
“I wanted so bad to fix her that I was prepared to buy new body parts or send her for specialized treatments in Tijuana or Michigan, for new state of the art trials; anything and everything was on the table if there was a chance to help her beat this. When we were told she was too weak to receive chemo, I went into overdrive to try and find something with any type of success story behind it.
“We tried Essiac Pills, and then I reached out to some First Nations friends I have that could refer a traditional medicine man and had some remedies made up,” said Eisner. “We tried Phoenix Tears (CBD/THC) and water purification solutions that were supposed to attack the cancer food within the body. I tried everything and, in the end, it was either too far advanced or I was living on hope for a miracle.”
Jason made the most compassionate decision to enable Robyn to live the remainder of her days in the comforts of their home, surrounded by loved ones. He took remarkable care of Robyn during her final days and was crushed when the pain became too much for her to take.
“We both knew that time was not in our favour,” said Eisner. “So we chose to live the way she would be most happy. I was able to sell three of my companies, so I could look after her myself, instead of working during the day and having homecare. She wanted to be home so bad instead of the hospital and I wasn’t about to deny her that request. She was able to spend her last few weeks in her happy place, looking out at the river and her gardens, and having her friends and family beside her meant the world.
“This allowed us to have some pretty deep conversations and make a special video for the kids on how she wanted them to conduct themselves after she passed on. That was super hard, but a cherished keepsake that can’t be replaced.
“As time went on, we had to take her back to the hospital a few times for fluid replacement and CT scans in Dauphin to monitor progression,” said Eisner. “We would have to stay there a few days then she would say ‘let’s get outta here’ and we’d head home to try it again. We borrowed a special tilting bed from friends of ours to set up in a spare room to keep her as comfy as possible. I was able to sleep with her, which allowed me to monitor her throughout the night.
“She would need to go to the bathroom frequently and spiked high fevers. Since she couldn’t walk due to weakness, I would lift her onto a walker that had wheels and a place to sit or the wheeled commode. As for the spiking temperatures, I would administer Advil, soak cold clothes, turn on a fan and get her to eat a freezie, which seemed to bring it back down within an hour. Sleep was difficult as I was always wondering what was going to happen and when.
“As she got weaker, I would sit her on a chair in the shower and wash her hair, shave her legs and brush her teeth,” said Eisner. “I found pleasure in being the one to do this for her. She told me how much she appreciated it all and it warmed my heart. I couldn't imagine it any other way. I told her I had made a commitment ‘in sickness and in health’ and wasn’t giving up my duties to anyone.
“Then came the day when the pain was too much to handle and something stronger was going to have to be given. I somehow knew that when the ambulance came this time, it was going to be the last time she would be there and that hit me like a ton of bricks.
“The nursing staff and doctors were amazing,” said Eisner. “They were all very understanding and accommodating. She told me many times how she felt so cared for by them and I was there to witness it. I would sleep at the hospital to help monitor her at night and advocate for her when she was too weak or a bit confused to do it herself.
Robyn passed away on July 27. Looking back, Jason can’t emphasize enough to people the importance of early detection when it comes to cancer and how it can save lives.
“With Robyn’s particular type of cancer, things weren’t known until it was too late,” said Eisner. “Robyn’s symptoms were fatigue and heavy night sweats and a slight pain under her right rib cage. There was no blood in the stool, which is a typical sign of colon cancer. So in all reality, the only thing that triggered everything was the blood test. Her counts were off showing her body was fighting something. The question of the day is would it have shown up if she did the test six months earlier, which would have allowed a better chance to fight it?
“Her sister, Tara, passed away four years prior from breast cancer at a young age. Even though there seems to be more proactive screening for that type of cancer with mammograms, not much is offered for other types of cancer.
“I guess the big takeaway from our experience has been that there are recommended screening ages for certain things and as a society, we don’t go get things done that may be uncomfortable if we aren’t feeling sick, such as pap smears, breast exams, colonoscopy, and a full physical. We will never know if a simple routine blood test would’ve helped her predict something was going on inside her body even though she felt fine.
“I want to encourage everyone to talk to their doctor about what proactively can be done to minimize the risk of cancer,” said Eisner. “We were told that the day we found out she had cancer, it was likely progressed too far already and there was nothing that would've helped.”
The Eisner family had tremendous support from people in the Valley. Many fundraisers were established and people came to provide support in any way they could.
“I can’t thank our community enough,” said Eisner. “The support given to us really amazed us. Robyn said many times ‘we must have done something right around here to get this level of support’.
“Special thanks to our neighbour, Tracey LaForce, who set up a schedule for people to deliver hot meals to us at the house, so we didn’t have to cook three days a week for a few months. Sean and Brandy Eggie of Eggies Green House donated all her flowers and soil. Ricki-Lea Keefe started selling t-shirts on behalf of our hockey family with close to 500 sold. Carmela Brading, from Shivers, held a ‘Support Mrs. E’ ice cream day with proceeds being donated to local cancer care and $5,600 was raised.
“I would also like to thank Dr. Koetting for the guidance and support through everything,” said Eisner. “Dr. Stan Riddell for the immunology guidance. Chris Staniland got the Swan Valley Regional Secondary School gym ready for the funeral during a huge renovation. Clint Weir from the golf course donated the proceeds from a Ladies' night to our kids’ education fund, which was $1,800 raised.
"Thank you to Marla Chernyk for the facial/spa treatment, Aspire Dental’s Heather King and Krista Smolinski for the teeth cleanings, and Kayla Hofford from Empire Esthetics for the manicure and pedicure. All of these incredible ladies came to our house to do these services. Jeff Schwarz from The Liquidator, died his hair blue for a Muay Thai event and to everyone who sported their blue t-shirts in support of her.
“Thank you to everyone that dropped off food and snacks, came for visits, donated to the children's education fund, cut our grass, watered/planted flowers, funeral assistance and prayed. We will never forget you all. A special shout out to my sisters, my parents, close friends and Robyn’s parents; we couldn’t have done this without your support.”
Eisner is hoping to play a bigger role in cancer screening advocacy and awareness.
“We wear our ‘Don’t Puck With Robyn’ t-shirts often to maintain awareness, hoping someone asks a question about what it means,” said Eisner. “I've shared her story often. I’d like to sit down with people who have also been affected by cancer and see if they want to brainstorm some ideas for creating awareness. Unfortunately, it seems to be a common thread amongst people and cancer seems to be affecting almost everyone in some way. Since it is still fairly fresh, I haven’t spent a lot of time putting that plan into action yet.
“I do explain to people who ask, that they should do research on their own, as to what all the options are available for treatment. We seem to be pushed towards chemotherapy, when there are alternative options that do work, under certain circumstances depending on the stage. In this journey, I found things offered in the U.S. that weren’t available in Canada, but had high success rates. I learnt a lot about immunotherapy - when it works, when it won’t and how changing your diet is a key ingredient to starving what cancer feeds on. I’d love to see more public education on how diet affects disease among people and will try to push the buttons to make that a reality.
“As I mentioned before, breast cancer seems to be the only one really out in front for pre-screening,” said Eisner. “I know there are some early warning tests available for men for prostate cancer, but you don’t hear the same amount of information about it, such as mobile screening units like they have for breast cancer. It could be because breast cancer is more prevalent? I’d like to see statistics posted for what types of cancer are most common in Manitoba and broken down further to what area per capita is most affected. That information should be published, so people can see clear as day if they should be more concerned.
“But, as far as colon cancer and liver cancer, I don’t know of anything being done proactively. I had a childhood friend that had the exact same cancer that Robyn did a few years ago. They caught it earlier as he had some symptoms such as blood in the stool. The doctors were able to resect a large portion of his liver as it regenerates itself, and remove the tumour in the colon. To this day, he is doing fine.
“With the amount of cancer happening around us and living in such a rural setting, we all need to advocate our politicians that more needs to be done in terms of availability to our health care system and prices for healthy products at the grocery store need to be brought into line,” said Eisner. “Water should not cost more than a soda pop.”
Robyn’s life will always be remembered and cherished. Her courageous battle with cancer will be a constant reminder for people to get screened for cancer and hopefully spark more advocacy and options for those going through a similar battle as Robyn did.