{"id":543173,"date":"2026-03-17T21:59:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/543173\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T21:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:59:10","slug":"nova-scotia-woman-says-exercise-program-for-cancer-patients-changed-her-life-halifax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/543173\/","title":{"rendered":"Nova Scotia woman says exercise program for cancer patients changed her life – Halifax"},"content":{"rendered":"

An exercise research program for cancer<\/a> patients has been life-changing for an eight-year-old Nova Scotian woman.<\/p>\n

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After being diagnosed with stage three breast cancer, Roberta Whiting says she lacked motivation to do much of anything, and had to rely on her wheelchair to get around.<\/p>\n

That was until her doctor recommended the Activating Cancer Communities through Exercise Strategy for Survivors (ACCESS) program through Dalhousie University at the QEII hospital<\/a> in Halifax.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you first start, it\u2019s like, oh, I\u2019m so tired,\u201d says Whiting. \u201cBut as you keep going, your body says, you\u2019re doing good, keep it up, keep going. And when you walk out of here, you feel good. You\u2019re achy, but you feel good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since starting the 12-week program back in December, she no longer needs her wheelchair and has gone up from lifting five-pound weights to now lifting 10. She has also been able to return to doing what she loves, which is baking.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI like baking, and I used to make bread, that was out, but since I\u2019ve been here I\u2019ve made one batch of bread, I made one bunch of tea biscuits and I also made a lemon pie,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n

Aidan Nolan, the exercise physiologist and kinesiologist who runs the program twice a week, says he\u2019s proud of the hard work Whiting is doing and how far she\u2019s come since starting the program.<\/p>\n

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\u201cShe\u2019s always pushing herself. She\u2019s always asking me for more things to do, even when she comes early and I can\u2019t maybe work with her in that moment. She\u2019s just over in the chair doing her warmup exercises, tells me exercises that she\u2019s doing at home between classes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

He adds that her one goal coming into the program was to be able to bake bread again, and she\u2019s already met that goal. Ultimately, he says, his goal for participants in the program is to provide them with the skills and confidence to continue exercising after the twelve weeks is up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds bad, but your goal as an exercise professional is people don\u2019t need you anymore. They feel confident that they can exercise by themselves. They\u2019re not afraid of hurting themselves. They feel strong and capable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since 2018, the ACCESS program has partnered the Nova Scotia Cancer Care Program and has seen over 500 participants come through the program. The program\u2019s goal is to show the benefits exercise can have for people recovering from or seeking treatment for various kinds of cancers.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe ultimate goal is to give everyone access to this form of treatment that they can use to treat long-term side effects or the long term effects of their cancer or to help them as they\u2019re going through treatment or to even get ready for their treatment,\u201d says Dr. Scott Grandy, one of the co-directors of the Physical Activity and Cancer Lab.<\/p>\n

Dr. Melanie Keats, one of the other co-directors for the program and an affiliate scientist with medical oncology, says becoming and staying physically active is important for cancer patients, especially when it comes to survivability, as well as improving physical and mental health.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor some, it\u2019s potentially a cure. But again, it\u2019s about\u2026 the empowerment and the hope and feeling as though that you\u2019re doing everything that you can to care for yourself,\u201d she says, adding the goal is to have exercise included in the standard of care for cancer patients across the board.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the biggest things for me is empowerment for a lot of patients,\u201d\u00a0she continues. \u201cWhere this can be very empowering, it can give you an ability to be part of your care, not just a recipient of your care.\u00a0\u201d<\/p>\n

Currently there are 30 participants in the ACCESS program.<\/p>\n

As Whiting comes to the end of her 12 weeks in the program, she wants everyone to know about the program and the benefits it provides.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m 80 years old, and I think it\u2019s good for no matter what age you are, if you can get into it. And I\u2019m glad I was referred to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFirst in Canada: Nova Scotia site opens global study to prevent breast cancer recurrence\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An exercise research program for cancer patients has been life-changing for an eight-year-old Nova Scotian woman. After being…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543174,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,7714,14691,84,44,211967],"class_list":["post-543173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cancer","tag-halifax","tag-health","tag-news","tag-qeii-hospital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543173\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}