Michael McLachlan vividly remembers the moment he made the conscious decision to disconnect his mind and his body during his battle against cancer.

It was two in the morning. He was on all fours on his hospital bed overlooking the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon. An aggressive form of cancer had invaded McLachlan’s central nervous system and formed a tumor at the base of his spine.

“I had a conversation with myself, which was rather simple,” explained McLachlan. “My mind couldn’t take what was happening. So I made the separation between my body and my mind because I knew my body would be strong enough to take whatever it had to take, but upstairs I couldn’t do it. So I made a disconnect and then I couldn’t reconnect afterwards.”

McLachlan was diagnosed on September 16th, 2016, with Non-Hodgkin’s Burkitt Lymphoma, an extremely aggressive form of cancer. The next day, he had surgery to remove the tumor on his spine.

His battle left him cancer free but traumatized. Physically, McLachlan was fatigued and wouldn’t let anyone touch his back. Mentally, he was shattered and struggled to find peace with what had just happened.

Luckily for McLachlan, Colleen McBride was there to help put the pieces back together.

McBride is a Registered Social Worker who first met McLachlan while working at the Saskatoon Cancer Centre. She specialized in trauma therapy and was asked to help McLachlan with his physical and mental recovery.

McLachlan calls what McBride did with him, “magic.”

This episode is co-hosted by cancer survivor, activist and author, Amy Smith-Morris. Please subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast app. You can also stream episodes on Spotify or the website. Don't forget to leave a review!

Thank you to Colleen, Michael and Amy for sharing their stories with listeners.

• Host, Producer, Editor: Eric Anderson
• Theme Music: Andrew Dickson
• Website: https://www.yxeunderground.com
• Recorded: On Treaty 6 Territory and the traditional homeland of the Metis