Mandy Wood, a woman whose story was featured in Global News’ fall series Unheard. Unserved: Maritime Women’s Health in Crisis, has died. She was 45.
Wood said in November that it took nearly two years to get a vulvar cancer diagnosis after she found a lump in her vaginal opening in 2023.
By the time the cancer was detected, she was already at Stage 3 and, nearly a year of treatments later, it progressed to Stage 4.
Doctors told Wood on Oct. 23 that she had only months left to live.
Her obituary says Wood died on Christmas Day — her favourite holiday.
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“I went misdiagnosed for over a year, which I try not to dwell on too much … you know, what could have been,” she told Global News in a story aired in November.
“I think it needs to be easier to access gynecological care because two years, a lot can happen in two years. And that’s a ridiculous wait time.”
Wood was a longtime Nova Scotia broadcaster, working at MBS Truro Stations for nearly 25 years.
She was known for advocating for mental health, using her own experiences to help others.
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She continued to update her listeners on her cancer journey to raise awareness about the rare form until the very end.
“I’ve been given some terrible lemons. But let’s try and make a little lemonade out of it. I need there to be something to come out of this, something positive. Because I can’t be going through all of this just for nothing,” she said last month.
In an interview with Global News, Nova Scotia Health Minister Michelle Thompson said last month that she wanted to “issue an apology” to Wood and her family.
“I didn’t think the system responded in the way it needed to,” Thompson said about Wood’s ordeal. “It was difficult for all of us to hear. We want to do better than that.”
Wood is survived by her husband Brett and two children, Adam and Olivia.
– with files from Ella MacDonald
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