Things That Matter: Stories of Living with Colorectal Cancer was created to be used by anyone whose life has been affected by colorectal cancer. You might be living with cancer, a family member of someone living with cancer, a friend, volunteer or health professional. All are welcome.

The project and its web site were originally conceived by Nancy Viva Davis Halifax, Alex Jadad, Ross Gray and Murray Enkin. Dr. Marg Fitch, an associated collaborator, facilitated the finding of a home for Phase One, the qualitative research inquiry, at Sunnybrook and Women's Health Sciences Centre. Phase Two of the project resulted in this website Things That Matter: Stories of Living with Colorectal Cancer. During Phase One, Nancy Viva Davis Halifax held conversations with people living with colorectal cancer, interviewing them about their experiences, and asking them to represent their experiences through journal writing and photography. What they revealed is represented on this web site in the form of creative non-fiction and photographs. The stories are built on the experiences, photographs and language of the participants. Changes were made to preserve anonymity where it was requested.

The research focus on people living with colorectal cancer was chosen as colorectal cancer is one of the leading causes of death from cancer in Canada, and it equally affects men and women. Another reason for choosing this focus was that the location of this cancer in the body cause it to remain unspoken about and stigmatized—we need to begin our discussion. Although deaths from this type of cancer have decreased over the past decades, people are living longer with the effects of treatment. The focus of the inquiry "living longer" was chosen as it is still not a well-understood area. What happens to people after treatment? What stories will they tell us?

The story form was used in this project for several reasons. Stories are part of our daily life; their making and telling is an ordinary activity that crosses cultures, generations, time and place. They provide a perspective into particular and shared aspects of illnesses, which by their nature are varied and complex. Storytelling, the arts and drama have historically provided generations of people effective methods of delivering information in an understandable way. The conversations held in Phase One of the project were stories of, and from people's lives. The return of the stories to their community in the modified form of creative non-fiction, preserves and honours the original engagement between people. Furthermore the depiction of the complexity of human interaction through stories encourages empathy with one's own being and at the same time helps us to understand others.

This project could never have existed without the generosity of those living with colorectal cancer who gave hours of their time in not only relating the stories of their lives, but also writing and photographing their experiences. Each one of these individuals acted as a teacher and it is our hope that their wisdom and humour, the grace with which they have handled their living with colorectal cancer comes through. Their stories, and this inquiry as a whole, has touched and transformed each of the research investigators in profound ways; for this we thank you.

Finally you will notice that as you leave the site there is an opportunity to provide us with an evaluation of your experience. Your comments will help us understand the effect of these stories on people all over our country.

The project received funding from the Canadian Cancer Society, Ontario Division, who were instrumental in ensuring that Phase Two of the project, the web site went on-line. Each of the groups at the Centre for Global eHealth supported the project in various ways including people from Medical Devices, Clinical Informatics, CORE, IC3, the Virtual Clinic. Thank you all.

Things that Matter: Stories of Living With Colorectal Cancer gratefully acknowledges the generosity and support provided by the following: 

Canadian Cancer Society, Ontario Division
Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Strategic Training Fellowship in Health Care, Technology and Place
Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, University Health Network
Sunnybrook and Women's Health Sciences Centre
University of Toronto