Kristy O'Heir

I walk for my husband, Dustin Moore

I walk for my husband, Dustin Moore, who was diagnosed May 31st, 2017 with Large B Cell Lymphoma Stage 4

The biggest challenge in my blood cancer experience was that I am a big planner - everything is usually very organized. When Dustin got sick, I had to let go of the control. The hardest thing was trying to be OK with the fact that things can change with the drop of a pin. We started saying "sorry" a lot when we had to change plans, and we realized we had to stop saying "sorry!" It was hard to let go of feeling like we were letting people down. For example, on Halloween, we felt so bad that we couldn't hand out candy, because Dustin's blood sugar spiked and he had a fever that night! (for that run, we ended up spending about 5 days in the hospital) I found myself going into full-on "robot" mode so I could accept all the information and relay it to all the family. We would actually record all the appointments and send them off to Dustin's family around the world!

Since Dustin's diagnosis, I am more accepting of people - it changed my mindset to understand and know when people are going through something, but they will tell their stories when they are ready. Now, we also do so much more charitable work and donations. We got the rude awakening that you can save as much money as you want, but you can't take it with you.

It was strange how I heard about Light The Night. Dustin started treatments in July, but at the beginning of August, I heard a radio ad about LTN! It was like it was meant to be, and I didn't even know it existed! I said to Dustin, "We need to be part of a benefit walk for your disease!" We ended up raising a ton of money the first year we did it.

The money raised goes towards research. We saw the benefit of this immediately, as Dustin's treatment was changed for the better about halfway through the treatment! Initially, his first treatment was 9.5 hours, then the treatments moved to being 6 - 7 hours, and then they changed the way they were administering one of the drugs, so the treatment sessions moved down to 3 hours! LTN also means hope; there is always going to be more research to come, and LTN makes that possible - whether it's easier treatments or to one day find a cure.

I feel that Canadians should support the blood cancer community through Light The Night because we are one of the lucky ones that gets to see what happens when people are generous and give money where it is needed in medical research. Much of the support comes from survivors or family and friends of those affected by blood cancer, but I wish it was out there more for others to donate as well. You have an increased chance of getting blood cancer if you have diabetes, and since it can come out of nowhere, if people really realized that, they might donate more.