On a cold Friday morning, just as the snow started to fall, friends, family and emergency personnel gathered to remember Capt. John Wagontall. Wagontall lost his 12-year battle with prostate cancer on Dec. 18 – cancer related to the work of firefighting.
“It was after his diagnosis that John really became an inspiration to me,” Lethbridge Fire Chief Richard Hildebrand said.
“He was such a fighter.”
Wagontall used his cancer diagnosis as a motivator to raise awareness about prostate cancer.
“John was an inspiration to the firefighters. He paved a road for a lot of us that we take for granted now,” Drew Ginther said. “John was instrumental in helping prostate cancer become one of our presumptive workplace-related illnesses and so it’s a huge loss.”
“John was a real fighter from when he was diagnosed with cancer back in 2004 – and like others have mentioned – he just didn’t just let it sit and go away. He went forward with it,” Rob Chollak said.
In 2006, he rode his bicycle across Canada to warn men about the dangers of not getting tested.
“Firefighters have almost double the risk of prostate cancer than the general population,” Wagontall said when speaking to Global News in 2006. “It’s possibly because of the environment we have to work in. It could be stress related, it could be numerous things.
“It doesn’t really matter. Firefighters need to start being tested earlier.”
The veteran firefighter will be remembered by many for his bravery. He was a fighter and a brother.
“We are a family,” Hildebrand said. “Not everyone understands that. But, when you work so closely on a day-to-day basis and sit beside someone and you trust your life with them… you gain a certain bond that is inseparable.”
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