B.C.’s post-secondary education minister revealed Tuesday her cancer has returned and she is undergoing chemotherapy.
Selina Robinson, who was previously finance minister under former premier John Horgan, told MLAs she received the news Jan. 27 that a scan had detected the cancer’s return.
Despite the diagnosis, “I am not going anywhere,” she said.
Robinson, nine years an NDP MLA for Coquitlam-Maillardville, said it was hardest to tell her family but she is confident she will be fine and plans to carry on in her duties.
Robinson was diagnosed in 2006 with a rare gastrointestinal stromal tumor, also known as GIST.
“A year and a half ago, I had the privilege of going to see my oncologist, who said: ‘You can go off your medication. I don’t think you have cancer after 15 years.’”
On Jan. 27, she learned the cancer had returned.
“And it’s heartbreaking,” she said.
“I’m fine,” she added. “I’m back on my chemotherapy and disappointed. Hard to tell my dad and my children that their mother has cancer again.
Robinson used part of her time allotted to address the throne speech to talk about the benefits of the health care system.
She detailed going to Royal Columbian Hospital thinking she was fine only to learn six days later she was back in the “system.”
”I have every confidence that that system will be there for me, as it will be there for every British Columbian who gets a cancer diagnosis,” she said.
