Chemo with COVID: One Whistler woman’s story

Local server Kelly McGillivray has heard one piece of advice time and again from doctors since she was first diagnosed with cancer last summer: whatever you do, don’t get sick. 

“With the whole pandemic, I was like, ‘What do you mean don’t get sick? How careful do I have to be?’ I tried asking them and they told me I basically have no immune system, so don’t get sick,” she explained.  

The 26-year-old first learned she had a form of lymphoma in late July, and since then, has endured rounds of chemotherapy and been put on drugs that have weakened her immune system.

Most of us can relate to experiencing some level of COVID-19 anxiety since those strange, uncertain days of March 2020, but for McGillivray and many immunocompromised individuals like her, it is difficult to overstate how confusing and nerve-racking the pandemic has been. In her weakened state, McGillivray’s doctors warned her about everything from cleaning her two cats’ litter boxes to walking around construction sites.

“The whole thing has been weird. I didn’t really know how careful to be. My whole life I go outside. I camp. I am one with dirt,” she said. “It took a lot to wrap my mind around it, and I don’t know if I even have fully.” 

McGillivray’s gruelling chemotherapy treatment required her to be in hospital for five days at a time every three weeks, where she would endure a prolonged 96-hour infusion. In between treatments, she had to be extra careful about what she was exposed to, effectively turning the usually energetic outdoorswoman into a homebody. 

“I have forgotten how to socialize,” she said. “I’ve been so low energy, so even if I have the chance to go socialize or hang out with friends, it takes a lot of convincing myself to do it.” 

McGillivray lives with her boyfriend and housemate, which has helped to stave off the boredom. But even that has come with risks. After both tested positive for COVID-19 last year, McGillivray was forced into isolation at the cancer ward, all while still undergoing treatment. 

“It was not pleasant in the hospital,” she said. “The nurses are great, but it still sucks you’re plugged in. I have a chest port that’s still in right now.” 

Ultimately, McGillivray couldn’t avoid COVID-19, testing positive for the virus in early January. 

But despite her doctors’ early warnings about immunocompromised people and COVID, McGillivray wasn’t phased, particularly after all she’d already gone through.

“When I found out I had COVID, I wasn’t actually that scared,” she said.

Compared to how she felt during chemotherapy, McGillivray said her symptoms were relatively minor—and already accustomed to spending the bulk of her time at home, quarantine didn’t prove much of a shift. 

Now that she’s feeling better, McGillivray recently returned to her serving job. But rather than anxiety about the potential of being exposed (particularly after already catching the virus), she feels relief at being back to an environment where she can interact with others. 

“I’m pretty excited about it, to be honest, because it gives me an excuse to put on a wig and pretend to be someone I’m not, and go out and talk to other people besides the people I live with,” she said. “I think my main worry at this point is I’m not sure how being on my feet and moving around and doing stuff with chemo brain will go. I’m just so forgetful and all over the place. Just to see how I actually handle the full day of work is I think what I’m most nervous about.” 

Fortunately, McGillivray doesn’t feel the same financial pressure to get back to work that a lot of young local frontline workers who’ve faced COVID have, thanks to a GoFundMe her friends launched after her diagnosis that means she can ease back into the job. 

“That did a ton to ease that worry. I don’t have to actually stress too insanely about being at work full-time right away,” she said. “But it is one of those things where I want to be serving and being busy and I’ve missed out on all of that. 

“The good thing is I have animals so I’ve become a crazy cat lady. No, actually, I already was a crazy cat lady.” 

This is the second instalment of Pique’s series exploring the human impacts of Whistler’s recent Omicron surge. Pick up next week’s issue for the third piece in the series.