Laval woman raising awareness about rare disorder, emphasizing need for healthcare follow-ups

A Laval woman Lucia Culzac is living with Cushing syndrome, a disorder that makes the body produce too much cortisol.

It caused her to develop benign brain tumors twice in the last five years and last month she was operated on for the second time at the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital.

“It needs to be brought up into the forefront just like lung cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancer,” she said

It all started five years ago for Culzac when she started feeling irritable, had high blood pressure and excess facial hair, among other things.

“I would go to a different doctors, telling them my symptoms, and they would just simply tell me, ‘you’re growing older, it’s hormones,'” she said.

“Fortunately, I went to my annual to my gynecologist for my annual appointment, mentioned it to her casually and she actually was the only doctor to examine me.”

Culzac was sent for an MRI of the brain, which came as a shock to her. “The MRI came back a week later, showing the tumor that I had on my brain.”

She’s now hoping to raise awareness about the rare disorder and is urging people to get themselves checked, especially Black women. 

Culzac reached out to CityNews to share her story.

“I think there are more people out there that have those symptoms that don’t realize the seriousness of what it could be,” she said. “They should just go to a doctor that’ll listen to them and if your doctor doesn’t, find somebody that will.”

She says it’s important for Black women to advocate for their health.

“Unfortunately in the health system, Black women are not taken seriously,” she said. “We have the same illnesses that our white counterparts have but for some reason, when we go with the doctors, they’re just going to tell you you’re getting old.”

Culzac says she’s heard stories of her Black friends not getting the treatment they require.

“It’s a bit scary because we have the highest cases of hypertension, we have high cases of diabetes and these are all things that are not being investigated properly, so much less than something like brain cancer.”

Advocates, like retired nurse Yvonne Sam, say there’s some mistrust in the system due to systemic racism. She says more Black doctors are needed in the healthcare network to restore trust.

“It also needs community workers like the churches and us nurses to educate our Black population to help them trust doctors more,” she said. “In some occasions, it is founded because I’ve been privy to patients being in severe pain and having to suffer.”

For Culzac, these cases only further reinforce the reluctance that some feel in accessing healthcare services.

“You see how you’re treated, you’re not going to go back,” she said.

But Culzac says if it weren’t for her regular check-ups, she wouldn’t have known about her relapse last year.

“I would hope in this month of Black History Month, that those who don’t usually go to the doctor, just take this month just for one appointment,” she said. “Anybody who knows me knows how much I dislike doctors appointments, but I realize the importance of keeping them because my life was saved, so I appreciate that.”

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