Brittany's Cancer Journey

On July 13, 2023, Brittany Roter wanted so badly to bask in the excitement of her pregnancy. Just 4 months along with her second child, she received the most devastating news a mother could ever hear – you have cancer.

Cancer came to Brittany with no warning. At the age of 33, the Apsley resident was out with her family when she urgently needed to go to the bathroom. “There was so much blood. It just poured out of me. It felt like it came out of no where. I had no cramping or pain. But seeing bright red and clots, it was terrifying.”

Brittany rushed straight to the hospital, saw her family doctor and was eventually referred to a gastroenterologist. “There was obviously concern because I was pregnant. I had a colonoscopy in Cobourg and I just had this gut feeling it was cancer.”

Unfortunately, Brittany was right. As soon as she received the news she was sent downtown to Toronto so that a team of expert obstetrician gynecologists and oncologists could create a care plan for her.

“At the time, my heart broke for the tiny human I was growing because her future was so uncertain. We didn’t know if she would make it.”

Brittany’s medical team came together to support her care and find the best approach for her during pregnancy. “There was a point in time that one of my doctors said I might be palliative. That was a shock. It never occurred to me that I couldn’t beat cancer.”

Before treatment even began, Brittany’s scans revealed her first piece of good news: her cancer was only in one spot on her colon. There was no spread. It was a glimmer of hope.

“Despite everything that was happening, I knew one thing – I was ready to fight for our lives.” 
And fight she did.

Over the past year, Brittany has visited five hospitals and has undergone six rounds of chemo, 25 radiation treatments, and two surgeries.

“There have been countless pokes and blood draws and endless appointments. I have 15 scars to date. Each one of them represents a little story in this battle my little girl and I have been through.”

Two days before her scheduled induction, Brittany had a colonoscopy to see how her treatment was impacting her colon. Thanks to the care she was receiving, Brittany was told her tumor was gone! With just scar tissue left in the area, she received some well deserved peace before welcoming her baby into the world.

She gave birth to her beautiful and healthy daughter, Hunter, in November of 2023.

What happened next was an ovarian transposition surgery: a specialized procedure that separates the ovaries, completely removes the fallopian tubes from the uterus and attaches the ovaries to the wall of the abdomen, safely away from the effects of upcoming radiation. Eleven days after the surgery, Brittany began radiation.

Brittany was able to have a break from travelling into Toronto when her care team referred her to the R.S. McLaughlin Durham Regional Cancer Centre and Dr. Mark Niglas in Oshawa for her radiation.

“So many of my family members came with me to treatment. My Mom, Dad or husband, Sam, drove with me every day to Oshawa and we’d bring my daughters Quincy and Hunter. Baby Hunter would sit quietly in her carrier outside the bunker with her sister while I had my treatment,” remembers Brittany.

“Dr. Niglas was fantastic. I always felt I was in good hands and if I wasn’t hearing about other appointments, he’d always make a call to make sure things were moving along.”

After radiation was finished, Brittany had part of her colon removed in May of 2024 and was given a temporary ileostomy bag. The device is often needed when part of the colon is removed and redirected. It sits outside the body and holds what would normally pass thorough the colon during digestion. Brittany was taught how to clean the area, empty and care for the bag and has to follow a strict diet.

“I was really scared about getting the bag, but I’ve learned to own it! You can’t control the sounds that come from your stoma and I’ve definitely learned to laugh at the noises,” shares Brittany. “I recently posted a picture in a bikini showing off the bag. I was nervous but so many people go through this. It’s important for me to help raise awareness when I can!”

Brittany’s story isn’t just hers, it’s Hunter’s too. Their journey highlights the incredible advances in medicine that helped care for mom and baby together. It takes a village to raise a family and in this case, an entire, interconnected health care system for them to beat cancer.

“Cancer has taken so much from me but it didn’t take me from my family, and it didn’t take my baby girl.”

On the tail end of her cancer journey, Brittany celebrated the end of summer with husband Sam and daughters Quincy and Hunter with a family trip down South. In September, she’ll have what she hopes to be her last surgery where doctors will reattach her colon and remove the ileostomy bag.

Donations to cancer care at Lakeridge Health directly support patients like Brittany. With community support, critical cancer care equipment can be upgraded and replaced like Smart IV Pumps used to administer chemotherapy and Linear Accelerators that provide 40,000 radiation treatments each year.

When it comes to supporting your local hospital, Brittany has simple advice. “Just do it. You think it may not be you… but take it from me, one day it could be”.

For everything Brittany has been through, she keeps a positive outlook on life. “I think I’m doing okay for a girl with butt cancer,” laughs Brittany. “I wasn’t always thriving during the past year, but I was surviving. I owe my life to my amazing team of doctors at Lakeridge Health and every other hospital that stepped up to take care of me and my family.”