Turning Loss Into Lifesaving Awareness

What if one conversation… one screening… one moment of advocacy… could save a life?

In this powerful and deeply moving episode, Kathryn is joined by Anne Perry, colorectal cancer awareness advocate and one of the voices behind #TestForToby a social media movement dedicated to promoting early screening and saving lives.

Anne shares the story of her late husband, Toby, whose colorectal cancer diagnosis came too late and how that loss became a mission to ensure other families do not experience the same heartbreak.

Through courage, advocacy, and community, Anne and her family are changing the conversation around colorectal cancer especially for those who are younger than the recommended screening age.

This episode is a reminder that awareness is not just information, it is action.

And action can save lives.

In This Episode You’ll Learn

• The story behind #TestForToby and how it began
 • Why colorectal cancer awareness matters more than ever
 • The rising rates of colorectal cancer in younger adults
 • The importance of early screening and knowing your options
 • How to advocate for yourself when something feels off
 • The role of family, community, and storytelling in driving change
 • How one voice can create a ripple effect that saves lives

About Anne Perry

Anne Perry is a colorectal cancer awareness advocate and one of the voices behind #TestForToby, a movement created in honour of her late husband, Toby.

Driven by loss and love, Anne and her family have committed themselves to raising awareness about the importance of early detection, screening, and self-advocacy with the goal of helping other families avoid the same outcome.

Through social media, storytelling, and community engagement, #TestForToby is empowering individuals to listen to their bodies, get screened, and speak up.

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Transcript

Kathryn 0:00

Welcome to the Living to Thrive with Cancer Podcast. I'm Kathryn White, holistic cancer coach and author. This is the place where we trade fear for hope, confusion for clarity, and overwhelm for empowered action. Whether you are newly diagnosed, living with cancer, or navigating life beyond it, each episode I'll share tools, insights, and real life inspiration to help you create a life that feels good to live right now in the middle of it all. Let's thrive together. Welcome to episode 5.14 of the Living to Thrive with Cancer Podcast. Kathryn White, your podcast host and cancer coach. In today's episode, I am talking with Anne Perry. Anne Perry is a colorectal cancer awareness advocate and the voice behind hashtag TestForToby. Test for Toby is a movement dedicated to promoting early screening for colorectal cancer and saving lives through education and awareness. Anne founded Test for Toby in honor of her late husband, and driven by her and her family's commitment to helping other families avoid the same loss. In today's episode, we will take a look at Anne's personal story related to her husband Toby's cancer diagnosis, why she created Test for Toby, and Anne's desire to increase how early screening can save lives. Welcome Anne. I am so excited and grateful to have you here today. Thank you so much for asking me. It's just I've been watching you on Instagram and following Test for Toby and um and then the stickers, but we could talk about that when you talk about Tess for Toby. And just was like, I'd have to meet this girl. And then it turns out that you're in Nova Scotia, and I lived in Nova Scotia, and so I'm sure if we had a deeper conversation, we would find some mutual person that we know. For sure. Yes, definitely. It is the way of the Maritimes.

Anne 1:57

It is, definitely is.

Kathryn 1:59

So we are here today to have you talk about uh tests for Toby and this very important message about colorectal cancer screening. And before we get into your message, I'm wondering if you would just be able to share with the listeners a little bit of an overview of your story and Toby's story and um you know just the the whole walk with cancer that helped you to arrive at this place.

Anne 2:25

Um my husband, uh Toby, was diagnosed with um, he had to go in for a screening, actually, um to a prior condition. And when he had his screening, he found out he had colorectal cancer, and that was in February of 2018. And right away he had to go through radiation, which we did uh six weeks uh in um in the city, which was about three hours away. So we had to stay down there for three six weeks, and we'd come home on the weekends, and uh he had three months off and he went for his surgery. And during his surgery, which was supposed to be just clean it up and be all done, we found out that he it had moved to his other organs. So he started chemo surgery, started chemo right away. He did chemo for over a year, and he lost his battle in November of 2019. After after he passed away, my uh my children designed a sticker with uh a lobster, which represented what their father did for a living, and we intertwined the blue ribbon representing color to cancer through it. So it was to honor their dad, to give to their friends and and put on the people's vehicles, we thought, and it just sort of went viral, and they came up with hashtag test for Toby, and we started an Instagram account, and it's become a whole mission to raise as much awareness for colorical cancer as we can. Other people, if they can see the symptoms, see the signs, and talk about it more, then that's all we can ask for. So yeah, that's how it sort of started.

Kathryn 4:22

I I really do love the work that you're doing and um the intention behind it of just of that honouring and remembering, and that it started as just this little kind of grassroots project, and now um it it's global. I see your pictures on Instagram and I I gave or of your sticker. I gave a sticker to my husband who had a work trip to Ireland, and um he put it outside of the the temple bar on a post so that anybody who's walking in that main street will see the test for Toby Lobster. It was like just our way of giving back to you for the work that you are doing to raise awareness.

Anne 5:04

It it means so much when people ask for stickers. And I've I've had it, it it started just putting them in people's vehicles in their back windows, and it was families and friends and that kind of thing. And it's just now people are like, Do you got any stickers? Let's take them. We're going away on a trip, and we we have them everywhere, so it's really, really cool to see how far it's gone and how big. And uh a couple years ago, my brother-in-law helped me put a QR code, is that what they're called? A QR code, yeah, in the sticker. So it will now people can click that and it'll take them to the information so that they can see right away truly what the movement is all about. So that's that's a lot better. So it's you know, and I I've I've personally put them up in an airport and sat back and then watched people go up to it and use their phones and click it. So that meant like I'm like, oh, it's working. So that's that's really great. So the kids take them with them everywhere they go. They now we have them in about I'm gonna stay about four or five stores in the area that keep them. And every time I walk in, like once in a while, they're like, eh, we're out, we need more stickers. So it's like, yeah, people will leave donations for them. I use them to I use the donations to buy more stickers or to put towards the run for the pushery to push we do every year.

Kathryn 6:32

So right, and we're gonna talk about that in a minute because that yeah, the big the big picture. Yeah, and and the lobster, um, um it is obviously in honor of Toby as a lobster fisherman. Yes, and um just like so recognizable, it's just so recognizable.

Anne 6:51

That's that's been the the first thing. I went on uh a trip with my friend last fall, and we were walking, and I was putting one on the telephone pole outside of a business, and two men were standing there, and I thought they were servers, it was inside of a restaurant, and they were like, What's what's animal about? What's the lobster? But so it was the lobster that they recognized first. Like, you know, they were like, What's the lobster all about? And when I told them the story and they were like, Well, do you have any more? And I was like, Yes, and I gave them, they were the owners of the restaurant, and they were like, We're putting this up, we're doing stuff. And when we walked back by, they had already posted one on the other side. So I was like, the lobster is the wolf, the lobster represents Ameritons perfectly, it represents him, and I mean he was a fisherman his whole life. Lobster was the main focus of what he did, but he he fished everything all year like round. So but the lobster is what gathers no, it gathers, it garners people's like attention right away, so that's that's great. And then with the sticker intertwined, and it was the kids did a great job designing it. They were like, they come up with the idea right away, so they did, yeah, it was really good. So they did that and the test for Toby. So they were like, Mom, that's a good idea.

Kathryn 8:10

And we're like, Okay, that's a great idea. And the the blue ribbon woven into that for for listeners who don't know, the blue ribbon is um blue is the color for colorectal cancer, yes, and also just a shout-out for that. Um March is Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, and this episode is airing in March, which is very timely. Um, and so this whole conversation really and test for Toby is bringing that awareness to colorectal cancer, which is um, I always say that it's not a sexy cancer. People don't know about it a lot. It's kind of like we're talking about poop. Yes, we are. Like that's we are talking about people's digestive systems, and it's not particularly glamorous, but what we do know is that colorectal cancer is one of the only cancers that is on the rise, in particular in younger people. And so test for Toby, I just feel like it's so important because it's so visible and because it's got the QR code on it, and you know, people who have no idea what colorectal cancer is can see it, scan it, and get educated, which is the whole mission behind I, you know, for Test for Toby and Colorectal Cancer Canada and CRAIN, all of these organizations that are building awareness, as you and I are right now.

Anne 9:36

Yes. Well, um, it's it's important to me because my children are of the age and they were told where my husband was diagnosed younger that they should be checked by the time they're therapy to get their screenings done and everything. So that's been a huge deal with me that we have to keep this going for them so that we raise awareness for their friends, for their for everyone to know, answer younger, it's okay to talk about it. It's clusterable, nobody wants to talk about their poop. It's funny how it doesn't bother me anymore. I'm like, if somebody brings it up to me and they'll be like, uh, I have a question. I'm like, Well, what is your poop like? Like, and I'm like, let's it I'll just ask you. Like, and I'm like, it doesn't we can talk about it, it's okay.

Kathryn 10:24

Like, yeah, always look in the toilet, always look and see what your poop looks like because it is, yeah, is a clear indicator of what is happening on the inside.

Anne 10:32

It's not a really pretty conversation, but the one that has to it really is, and it's uh the people people just don't want to, they're uncomfortable talking about it, especially men. Men more so, like you know, they that's that's been uh I've had a good many conversations with people that are like, I've always tossed away with fit kit that has come when I was 50. And and now listening to you or talking to you or seeing the stuff you post, and this I I did it this year. They're like, I did it, I sent it in, and I'm like, that's that's amazing. So I it starts out with a small movement with family and friends and and people who you just talk to, and they're like, they know you, so they're gonna listen. But it's moved on to so much more than that of people that I don't know and I've never met, and I get to meet and talk to like you. So that's that's been that that's it's just so important for me to keep it going, to to keep raising the awareness and just to just keep posting the little things about the symptoms and the signs and to be aware of the changes in her body.

Kathryn 11:46

So yes. So for the listeners, if you are not already following Test for Toby, it's hashtag test for Toby on Instagram, and I will put that in the show notes so to remind people to go there. Um, and it's just like the work that Anne is putting up, that you are putting up, is is just that. It's like this is what you need to be looking for, this is what signs are, this is what you can do, like get screened. And of course, working with Colorectal Cancer Canada, we are in the middle of this big, you know, hashtag screen at 45 campaign to really talk to our government officials about standardizing screening at the age of 45.

Anne 12:26

Yes, it's been my children. We were told, where Toby was diagnosed, diagnosed gambler, that they had to be screened by the time they were 30. My oldest is 33. He's been asking for at least two years now. And he just got a phone call from a doctor that they will call the spring and book his appointment. You still have to be an advocate for your own health. That's that's the hard part. And I said, I've said to him and his wife, if you don't keep pushing for this, they're gonna keep putting it off. So and I said, it was told that we have to do this by the time you guys are 30. So we'll get one of the kids done and then we'll get the other children started. So yeah.

Kathryn 13:09

It is important. So um my story, my dad died of stage four colon cancer at 63. And then I was told the standard of practice is screen 10 years younger than than the parent. So I would have been 53, but I was 43 when I was diagnosed.

Anne 13:26

Don't so don't you think that that that right there proves to us that we need it younger and younger? Or the standard if if it is somebody diagnosed that close to us as a relative, like father or parent, that it should be at least 20 years that you're our standard to get a screening done. Shouldn't even be a question, right?

Kathryn 13:49

And and yet it was, and yet it was, and that you know, you get a little bit about advocacy. Like, we really had to push for a diagnosis because they were everyone just kept saying, You're too young, you're too young. Like, it's um yes, I'm young, but something's really wrong in my body, and we need to get on this.

Anne 14:08

And uh during one of the push-free tush ruins that we'll talk about later, um, I met a girl when she was 27, and she was through intermission, so she was doing really well, but she came to the run because of that. And I'm like, 27, like you know, that's it's and there's so many stories of much younger than that.

Kathryn 14:32

So yeah, and you know, it's not to create fear, this is the reality of of what we are looking at, and so um in this age of social media, and I find that our our younger people are finding bigger voices and and they're more comfortable asking questions, and they're doing research and looking so to empower them even further with this idea that they you don't have to wait and you're allowed to ask questions. And here's the system that you need to be looking for and take action is so important. My 27-year-old, my 26-year-old has been screened. He went in and said, This is my mom's story and her dad's story, and I want to be screened. And um he got he got a colonoscopy, like faithfully. I know that doesn't happen for everybody, but given the family history, this this doctor said, Okay, like let's get that done. That's great.

Anne 15:29

A baseline, right? Now we know it it should be a baseline, especially when you backstory. My sister-in-law had a hearing problem at birth, so my children had to be tested at birth for hearing because of the proximity of you know that. So why are we fighting to get a colonoscopy when it's you know, why is my son have to ask for two years to get his colonoscopy when his father was diagnosed and passed away with it? Like and told by his surgeon at the time, our children should be testing at 30. So it shouldn't be a question. He shouldn't have to ask for it for two years, it should just be done.

Kathryn 16:14

Yeah. And I recognize, I think we said that you know, there's a financial aspect to this. There's screening, um, but there's the I don't want to get too deep in the weeds, but when you find cancer earlier, then you can proactively, you know, work on the medical side of it. If you are screening younger, then you can find it proactively, and it is less expensive to have a colonoscopy and catch it or find that nothing is wrong than to go through the treatment process. That might feel a little controversial for some people, but but it's the truth. The the treatment process in all of the surgeries is is an expense, an added expense on the system. 100%.

Anne 16:58

It's and colorectal cancer is so treatable and beatable if caught early enough. So if if we have this if people are aware of their symptoms, they can go to the doctor and find you and just talk to them and then get the screening. We can avoid it. Well, it's been way easier on an opcare system.

Kathryn 17:18

Yes. So if you are receiving your fit test in the mail, please do not throw it out. Please just do the fit test. It is a it is an initial tool for diagnostics and and then have conversations with your doctor beyond that.

Anne 17:33

I know uh a great many people that I've talked to that has had their initial, not diagnostic, their initial consult consultations because of their fit tests, like and they found it through that way. So I spoke to a um a man and he he had no idea anything was wrong, but what he said his fit test end, he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer right away. He had to come in. So to me, amazing. Like, we're very lucky that we get those. So please don't throw them away.

Kathryn 18:06

Literally, you have to take a sample of your feces and you put it in an envelope and mail it away, and it's all weird for about five minutes, and then and then it's the line. It's not it.

Anne 18:15

Yeah, and then it's no big deal. But at the time, I literally remember the first one I had to do thinking, okay, literally putting my poop in the mail. I think there should be a hashtag for that. No big deal. No big deal. Oh, that's a good one. Yeah, that's a good one. That's good. You can add that too. I am gifting you that hashtag. No big deal. I'm definitely going to use that one.

Kathryn 18:42

I love it. I love that. Um, so part of the work that you're doing is in uh Shelburne, Nova Scotia, where you live. Yes, just a lovely little community on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. You are running. I think we you said before we start, you think this is the seventh year? This will be the seventh year, yeah. Of the Push for Your Tush run through Colorectal Cancer Canada.

Anne 19:06

Yes.

Kathryn 19:06

And that is happening June the 13th. Yes. Okay, this is exciting. You tell us a little bit more about Push for Your Tush, how you got involved with it, and and what's happened over the years with this amazing fundraiser.

Anne 19:22

Um, well, Push for your Tush started for me personally when I was looking for information on colorental cancer. And I saw it up during my husband's treatment process, and it was in Toronto, so I was like, Oh, I want to go. Like, just wasn't feasible at the time to leave him when he was having treatments and everything else as his caregiver. So I was we didn't do it. And uh after he passed away, um, it was coming to Nova Scotia for the first time. And I was so excited because I thought, well, I'm definitely going. It's going to be in the Sydney and Hell Fact. So that's about three hours away from us, and because we're rather on the social in a small town. So that was the year we all got hit with COVID. So uh Push for your Tosh went virtually online. So I decided, great, I'll just do it from home and we'll do it virtually. So I'll raise money. And I put a goal of like a thousand dollars for myself to raise money for colon cancer awareness through push for your tush. And um, my gym that I go to, Southwestern Athletics, said, Ann, why don't we do it through the gym? We'll work with COVID restrictions and we'll do it with our members. And so we did it that fall that way, and it started out just through that with the gym, some family members, some small. It was great. Uh, Southwestern Athletics, my gym that I belong to has been great, great supporter of this with me read along. They've been amazing. And uh we we had a first small one, and it worked out really good. It was really great. We raised more money than I had anticipated, so I was kind of shocked. The next year it was still virtually through COVID, so we did the same thing. Got a little bit bigger. We were allowed more numbers at the time, so it got a little bit bigger, and the next year uh they were going live again, so we decided to move it to a bigger location, so we moved it up to the fire hills in the community. So we did that, and it it was a lot bigger, so it was really great. We we had a lot of people come, we had a lot of support, we had a lot of people join in afterwards. We had our MLA, we had, you know, other people that came and spoke. It was great. We have um a DJ, we had a balloon lady, we have a face painter. So the kids, it's a family, it's a whole event with the family, so which is what it should be because it's meant to raise awareness. For coliburnal cancer, and I want everybody involved to see what that's for. And little things, you know, to make it a fun day for everybody to see that. So it's grown from there. The next year, Cole in Canada asked if uh they were going to do it in Halifax. And uh they asked me if I would like to come to Halifax to help organize the event. And I thought about it and I thought, no, I don't think I would, because we've done it in Shelburne, in this small town area, right from day one, and it's worked out really well. And I think it's important to keep it here where everybody has helped me. And I mean, if push returns was in Halifax, that's that's a great it's that's that's amazing and great to have it everywhere because I know we have it in way more cities across Canada now than we did at the Thomas. But uh Cola Canada said, okay, so you think it should be there if it's going so good. Let's keep it in Chalburn and we'll keep it there for Nova Scotia. And I thought amazing. So we've kept it here. We raised over, I think last year we were over 30 dancers for colon cancer awareness. So and I I'm not positive, but I think it may have been third highest in the in the country. So, and I mean that's behind Montreal and Toronto and huge cities with a lot of support and little old Shelburne on the south shore of Nova Scotia. The money is a huge part of it to help with them getting out awareness and their campaigns and all that stuff, and that's great. But to me, the run means so much more than that because it has grown to be families that come and other people and other survivors and their groups. So we have teens that I have met with their survivors or somebody who has passed away from the disease, and that has been huge. Like that, that to me is is it's so important and so huge to keep that awareness going that way. So, and they're like, We're coming back next year with a beggar team, and we've told so-and-so, and we've had once come from other provinces all around Nova Scotia now. So there was uh one uh lady who last year decided to do the 10K instead of the five, and she walked the whole the whole thing, and she was we stayed there till the end, everybody was long gone, and I was like, I'm leaving up the balloons, I'm leaving up the stuff that DJ had left, everybody had left, and she came walking through, and she was so proud to do that. And I thought it took her so long, and she was a little weak at the end, and I thought this is amazing. It's just an amazing story when people get to do that.

Kathryn 24:57

So for the people that are in the event, like the as you said, like there's so many people who have been touched by colon cancer, um, colorectal cancer, and and it's not it's not a huge, it's getting bigger in the world of fundraising and awareness, but to have it in in it's just so Nova Scotian that you know, to have it in a small community of people are like, well, of course I'm gonna show up. And of course I'm gonna work people. Like it's just that that family type feeling. And to to stay for that lady and do that is just a testimony to exactly why the run is there. It's for everybody, and and we honor everybody and their story and why they're doing it, and and see them through to the end.

Anne 25:43

And there's so many people that I know personally, and I didn't know they were affected by it. So that to me, to bring it up and to bring more awareness to it, to like talk about it and share it with everybody else, then they share their story, it gets their story out, they can share it with somebody. So somebody else is like, well, wait, I've got something, something that doesn't quite feel right. So, you know, I just want people to talk about it more, to bring it up more, just to that's all. I just want people to be aware of the signs, the symptoms, so that they can see, oh, hold on, maybe I should go talk to somebody about this.

Kathryn 26:20

Yes, yes. And I think your event and your #TestforToby and the stickers and the QR code, you're like you're just doing so much beautiful work in this world of colorectal cancer. And um, and again, I see you on Instagram all of the time. And uh I as a stage four colon cancer survivor, thriver myself, I I just want to thank you for the work that you're doing because the conversations are starting, the momentum is building, and and people are starting to have have the conversations around screening and um taking care of themselves. I love the word thriver for you. Thank you. It was uh it's just been like right from from the beginning. It was it was like I just I didn't want it. I said to remember saying to my husband, like, I don't want to be known as Catherine the Cancer Survivor. And and then this thriving came through, and it's just like this, this is, you know, and that's what part of my mission, just to weave my mission into all of this, is to change how people see cancer, to change the narrative around cancer itself. Um, you know, as soon as you tell somebody about cancer, you get the face of that, oh, that's so oh, and it's like, okay, yes, it's not fantastic, but still here, still working really hard. And and the conversation around stage four metastatic cancer, there are a lot of people living beyond their diagnosis that are living through stage four colon cancer. And I think that's part of that's part of my message to get out is that everybody's story is different, and everybody's you know, how they work through it is different, but we need to have the conversations and we need to change the conversations around cancer.

Anne 28:15

That's the important part to me, I guess, is the sticker started just in memory of my husband, and then it sort of evolved to the test for Toby, and I thought it was important to post awareness and symptoms. Then it went to the room, and that's been a huge part of this. But to me, it's been important to keep this going because Toby lost his battle, and it I've always you always have the thoughts in the back of your head, what if we had found it earlier? What if we had done this? What if we had done something different? But it's so important for me to get my children tested. So I want to keep this awareness going so that they are taken care of, and other people that age are taken care of, and they don't if we can just if we can just help somebody that they don't have to go through all this just a little bit, just a little bit, even if we got a couple people that it's like I found out and I found out earlier, so I'm okay. Like, you know, they they've done the treatments or they've got through this. That's why that's why it's important to me. The phone call just with my oldest son just came through, so that's why it was this has been like okay, thank you. Like, you know, I just want to get them tested and checked and everything, so they'll hate me bringing this out, but yeah, that's okay. It's a mother's love, right? Wow, that's that's why I do this. It's important for me for my kids to move this forward for my own children and for like everybody else. I just want it to be talked about. I just want everybody to yeah, okay. We we check that.

Kathryn 30:02

So, you know, yeah. Well, it all started with a conversation, and this conversation started with a sticker that I saw on Instagram. With a sticker, so that was great. Right. It's perfect. Yeah, I have one more question for you. Um I ask this of every guest, and that is what does living to thrive mean to you?

Anne 30:23

Well, I thought about this, and living to thrive me to me probably means a little bit different than it did maybe 10 years ago. But it right now it means to me to live to live, to be happy, to see those moments, and to enjoy the little moments that we have that you might have taken for granted before. Um you always just have to stop and see try to see the good parts of the best things. If I see something now that maybe I might have stepped over before, and I'm like, oh that's beautiful. That's that's worth really remembering this little little piece of what's happening today. Like, that's a good thing. I always say to um some of my friends I told here recently, I was like, We all have a choice every morning when we wake up to be happy or to so you have to really take that and be like, okay, smile. Let's make the best of today. That's all we've that's all we've got. So so I saw a meme the other day that meant the world to me, and you may have shared this, and I wasn't sure, I'm not sure right now, but it it says we only live once, and it says wrong, we only die once, we live every day. And I thought that's that's so true. So you always have to remind yourself of this stuff over and over. Everybody does, because we're all going through everyone is going through something, so you have to remind yourself of that every day. So I try to wake up and not every day, because every day you you know, every day is is different, and you're all struggling with something. So to me, thriving, that's what thriving would mean to me, is trying to take a step back even when you're not feeling the greatest or having an issue and trying to see what's important and what's what's worth seeing and remembering. I wanted I wanted to say that I've done something important, maybe. So if me being able to bring a little bit of awareness to colivertical cancer, I'll take that every day because the awareness just yeah, I'll take that little bit of feeling like I've done something. And if it is in his memory, all the better.

Kathryn 33:03

It's beautiful. Thank you. Thank you. It's it is heartfelt work, and um, you know, on behalf of all of the colorectal cancer survivors, thank you for doing this very heartfelt, beautiful and important work. It's it's it's beautiful work that you're doing, Ann.

Anne 33:29

I don't think of it that way. I just think of trying to do something for I guess my kids and everybody else. So yeah. Thank you so much for asking me to talk about this and stuff. It's yeah, this is great. So thank you.

Kathryn 33:43

You are so welcome. I'm so grateful that we were able to connect. And I my uh I said this to you before we came on. I'm I'm going to try really hard to get to Shelburne this summer for that push for your twitch. Like it's now on my list. So, like, okay, I need to make that happen because uh the Maritimes uh is a little bit of home for me. And um, I just I feel like when when you make these connections with people, it's really nice to make them again in person.

Anne 34:11

So it really is. And I I made quite a few connections with people um through the run. And it that through the the sticker, but then through the rug, too. So it's been really great. And watching my uh kids uh work right alongside me with it has been amazing. It's uh my grandchildren are very involved. So last year, my oldest grandchild is five, and last year, one of the pictures, because we have friends who are photographers who've helped me through. I couldn't do the run without my friends and family, like they've done so much to help. But she has taken these pictures, and she got a picture of my granddaughter who would have been four at the time. She worked at the water station with her mom, and there's a picture of her there, and she has on the back of her shirt, like uh, I run Tess for Toby, you know, for Grampy, it says, or something. There's a picture of her holding up two water, little water jugs hold up for the runner to come, and it is the cutest, like it's the sweetest. And I thought that embodies the whole thing, like embodies the whole ruin of it. So it's family and the focus, and you know, she's for her to be able to grow up and the kids to grow up into this, like that's that's pretty cool to help with that. So I'm about that. I'll have to see that picture somewhere. I'll have to send it to you because it's the sweetest picture. And Colton Canada used um when they put on this year, they they shared they used one of her pictures of her in her background with it. Uh that was the picture they used, and her with her little red-headed pigtails, like you know, so it was I might have seen that picture. I'm definitely that's my and that's my granddaughter. So and there is the legacy right there. That's that's the important part of it, is we all get to do that. So that's that's meant the world to me.

Kathryn 36:01

So well, we wish you all the best in the run this year. And um, if people wanted to get stickers, would they be able to reach out to you and get stickers to share?

Anne 36:14

Yes, certainly. I would love to send. I've sent stickers to uh people I've met overseas. I've sent them to you, I've sent them to a lot of friends, to a lot of, yeah, there's been a few. Um I've had a few in Ontario, but there was a lady in England, there was a lady in um overseas in a different country. So yeah, I will send them everywhere. Perfect.

Kathryn 36:39

I'll share your information in the show notes, and people can reach out to you directly and um get their Tess for Toby stickers to share around the world. I'd love that. Fantastic. Thank you, Anne, so much for being here today and for sharing your story and Tess for Toby with the listeners. Um, as I said, I'm going to share your information in the show notes so that they can find you and follow you at hashtag Test for Toby on Instagram. And um, just to the listeners, if you found what you learned here today to be useful, please share it with other people. That helps Anne to spread her message of awareness and education around colorectal cancer. And it helps me to reach more of you who are also looking for support in the background. Um, we are advocating for screening to be lowered to the age of 45 in Canada. So if you can uh have a conversation with somebody you know around that screening conversation that is happening through Colorectal Cancer Canada on Instagram and Facebook, um, that's that is a really good initiative that Colorectal Cancer Canada is taking to the government of Canada. Um, and we both just want to remind you to be aware of your body, talk to your doctor if things happen, and advocate for yourself because screening saves lives. And if you've enjoyed the podcast, please go ahead and subscribe. And wherever you're listening, follow me on YouTube and you can head to the show notes to get your name on my weekly email list to stay up to date on episodes like this that are coming out and other things that I'm doing in my world to support people who are living with cancer. Thank you so much for being here today. I hope you have a beautiful rest of your day, and may you live your life to your fullest. Follow your heart and thrive.