Five years ago, Aurora’s Lindsy Matthews found out she had early-stage breast cancer, and today she’s living with an incurable diagnosis of stage 4 metastatic breast cancer (MBC).
For her, finding purpose by finding her voice has made all the difference in her journey of bringing awareness to breast cancer.
With less than five per cent of the funds raised in October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month going to support MBC research, Matthews is using her stage as a competitor in Speaker Slam’s Inspirational Speaking Finals as a way to raise awareness.
Matthews has used her struggles of living with an incurable disease to speak and become an inspiration to others.
In April, she took part in Speaker Slam, an international public speaking competition, and won.
“It was surreal,” she said. “That was my first experience on stage in a long time.”
That qualified her for the Grand Slam event on Nov. 18, which brings the top two speakers from multiple events on stage to compete against each other for a prize package worth up to $50,000.
Matthews will be one of 14 competitors and says she’s excited, but nervous because the competition will be tough.
With the competition in the CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio, she said it feels even more legitimate and that she knows everyone will be bringing their A-game.
“This ups the ante,” she said. “It’s going to be hard, but I really want to win.”
While she does find it nerve-racking to compete, she said it makes her nervous in a good way and that she feels a rush of adrenaline.
“You just feel so honoured to have the audience’s attention,” she said.
Every speaking competition has a theme, the Grand Slam event’s theme is joy. Matthews says she plans on talking about joy in the sense that she experiences it more powerfully now after her cancer diagnosis.
“There’s always this little bit of grief that goes with the joyous occasions in my life,” she said.
Ultimately, Matthews said that the speaking competitions have helped her find purpose because when you’re given a difficult diagnosis, it helps when you feel like there’s a reason to be going through something life-altering.
“I like to lead by example and show people that you can still do wonderful things,” she said. “I also love showing my children that when something challenging is happening, you can take it as an opportunity for growth.”
She said that the speaking competitions have proven to be the opportunity she needed to grow because not only do they allow her to bring awareness to breast cancer, but she also gets to show others what you can accomplish even when living with an incurable disease.
“When going through something so hard, it’s really difficult to find meaning,” she said. “This competition has given me meaning because I get to show people that living with an incurable disease is still a worthwhile life.”
Purchase tickets to the Grand Slam: The Inspirational Speaking Finals here.
