One of Chatham-Kent’s municipal councillors will be taking some time off after revealing she has been diagnosed with breast cancer.
Councillor Melissa Harrigan announced on Thursday that she was diagnosed with Invasive Ductal Carcinoma earlier this month following a battery of tests.
“I have breast cancer. It’s difficult to say but sharing it makes me feel less alone and true to the way I have conducted my personal and professional life, with transparency and advocacy,” she said in a news release.
Harrigan said she will be temporarily stepping aside from her duties on council in the next few weeks to focus on her treatment and recovery efforts.
“I recently experienced what I thought was a change in my right breast after doing a self-exam. I felt an internal call to action to ask my primary care practitioner for further testing to establish a baseline for the future, after a close friend went through a similar circumstance. I am glad I did,” she said. “I am now one of 28,600 Canadian women who are diagnosed with breast cancer each year.”
Harrigan said the diagnosis was shocking and unexpected, and details of a comprehensive treatment from her treating physicians are still to come.
“It is a personal choice to make this public, but I am sharing in hopes of bringing awareness to the importance of early detection and screening tools, like conducting self-breast exams and scheduling regular or base-line mammograms,” she said.
Mayor Darrin Canniff said he and council were all jarred by Harrigan’s breast cancer diagnosis and they will be supporting her throughout her treatment and recovery.
“Councillor Harrigan has been a strong advocate for many important causes. It’s our turn to support her,” Canniff said in a statement.
Canniff added that council will determine how best to temporarily fill Councillor Harrigan’s roles on council and committees in January.
“For now, our focus is sharing Councillor Harrigan’s desire to share her message and have a bit of time to work on her transition plan,” he said.
Along with her duties as a councillor in Ward 1, Harrigan currently serves on the Community Development Advisory Committee, the CK Plan 2035 Advisory Committee, the Audit Committee, the Wheatley BIA, and the CK Community Leaders Cabinet.