Cornelia Schupp wants to share a message of hope with the BRIGHT Run 2025.
“There is life after breast cancer and I’m living it,” said Cornelia, our 2025 survivor spokesperson. “I want others to know that it’s going to be OK.”
Cornelia, 64, has been an Early Childhood Educator for almost 40 years. She works in Welland for a company that provides childcare in the Niagara Region. She’ll retire at the end of the summer.
Originally from Galt, Cornelia attended St. Lawrence College and York University. She moved to Dunnville after marrying her husband John in 2000.
It was her own breast cancer diagnosis that drew Cornelia and John into the BRIGHT Run family.
After finding a suspicious lump, Cornelia underwent a series of tests, including an inconclusive biopsy. Ultimately, she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007. She underwent treatment through 2008, having a mastectomy, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.
Her first thought at diagnosis?
“Oh crap,” she said. “I did feel some resentment because I always thought of myself as robust and healthy. In a way, this made me feel like a liar.”
Between diagnosis and treatment, Cornelia and John talked through the options. As a result of those talks, Cornelia chose to take as much treatment as possible, including 10 years on Tamoxifen.
During treatment, Cornelia decided to write about her experience in a book she created that focused on hair loss.
“Losing your hair is so obvious and can be difficult to handle emotionally,” she said. “I wanted to express my feelings and move on. I approached it from a practical but funny perspective.”
The unpublished book, titled No More Bad Hair Days!, is full of pictures of Cornelia at various stages of hairlessness. It finds and. chronicles the advantages of hair loss with a lighthearted approach – no bad hair days or bed-head, built-in camouflage, saving money on hair products, avoiding head lice (remember. she works with kids!), the joy of having a wardrobe of hats.
The book also explains the hair loss process for newbies, as well as recording the progress of the inevitable regrowth of that hair.
It was also during her treatment at the Juravinski Cancer Centre (JCC) that Cornelia saw advertisements for the BRIGHT Run, which was preparing for its first ever event.
She and John attended the first few years of BRIGHT Run as participants, then they switched to volunteering. Cornelia continued to volunteer with the BRIGHT Run after John began living with dementia. He resided in a long-term care facility until he passed in May 2023.
“The first year we volunteered, we were on the trails, the food tent, the silent auction and, most recently, the pink merchandise tent,” Cornelia said. “I love working with BRIGHT Run people. They are awesome!”
After all this time, how does Cornelia feel about the BRIGHT Run?
“I appreciate that all the money raised by participants is used for local research,” she said. “There are no executives benefitting from the donations.”
She also likes that the BRIGHT Run doesn’t carry a high fee for individuals to participate, as happens with some other similar events.
“The day of the BRIGHT Run is always full of such positive energy,” Cornelia said. “Volunteering with the BRIGHT Run is a very positive experience. We always looked forward to our volunteer shifts!”
Learn more about Cornelia when she appears on CH Morning Live on Wednesday, June 18 at 7:20 a.m.
