Third annual breast cancer fundraiser for St-Mary’s Hospital by former operating room coordinator

Rosa Di Paola is a cancer survivor who has found courage and determination to give back to St-Mary’s Hospital by raising funds for breast cancer treatments and services. She was an operating room coordinator at the hospital for 25 years before being diagnosed with an aggressive form of stage 3 cancer almost a decade ago.

She credits her canine companion for pushing her to see a doctor.

“My puppy, Usher, he would wake me up at night and he would just start crying,” recalled Di Paola. “He would smell my breath and my breast, my right breast, and he would start, just continue crying and crying… I didn’t know why he was behaving in that way.”

Usher continued this behaviour for a month and a half, according to Di Paola. Until she overhead a conversation between people who were discussing how dogs can feel that their human is unwell.

“I went to see my doctor and was diagnosed with breast cancer.”

Usher, now 10, is a mix of miniature pinscher mixed with poodle and chihuahua. He’s travelled with her to Florida, Portugal, Italy and Morocco.

“You cannot stop living because you have cancer,” said Di Paola. “No, you have to look forward and fight this intruder… you have to fight for your life.”

She’s navigated invasive surgeries, radiotherapy, and countless side effects from treatment including short-term memory loss.  

“You get up one morning and you cannot think, there is nothing going in, nothing going out from your brain,” described Di Paola. “Even if you want to read, or even if you want to listen to the TV, the radio or to your friend, you can’t, you can’t, because your brain is dead.”

Her experience inspired her to go back to school to become a therapist. In 2021, she received her diploma from UQAM and now works as an energy therapist. And the following year she even started a fundraising gala for St-Mary’s Hospital.

A second diagnosis

Unfortunately, Di Paola was diagnosed with stage 4 Recurrent Breast Cancer on the sternum in 2023. She was told that her chances of survival were 27 per cent and was given between two and ten years to live.

“I said, ‘no,’ I will beat this again.”

So she completely changed her diet and leaned into friends, faith and prayer and was told this July that her cancer was in remission.

“Less sugar, no fried food and no salty food,” she explained. “I prayed a lot also… I do believe that Saint Padre Pio touched my heart.”

Her yearly galas have raised a combined $10,000 to date. It will be combined with the “Fall Dance 2024” this year and is being held on Nov 9 at the Châteaubriand in Rivière-des-Prairies. Tickets cost $130.

“St. Mary’s, it was my home. My second home for so many years,” she said.

“If there is one thing I want to say to the ladies: fight back, find something that will help you to go on, find something everyday. If you need someone to talk to, I am here.”