Cancer remains top cause of death in Canada as new study shows multiple types rising – CBC

254,000 cancer cases projected for 2026, research shows ‘concerning’ new trends

Apr 13, 2026

Jason Ellis never expected how many times cancer would strike his family.

The 38-year-old Guelph, Ont., resident lost his mother to breast cancer when he was in high school. She first hid her diagnosis to protect him, Ellis recalled, making her death even more of a shock.

Years later, his wife Marilyne was diagnosed with a rare type of sarcoma — a cancer of the connective tissues — after multiple doctors misdiagnosed a mass growing in her leg. By the time it was biopsied, the cancer had spread to the 29-year-old’s lungs, leading to a terminal, Stage 4 prognosis that he said “completely obliterated” the pair’s plans to start a family.

The couple had just bought their first home. In 2022, roughly a year after her diagnosis, Marilyne died in his arms at the age of 30.

“And the table turned to me last July,” Ellis said.

He’d had unrelenting facial and head pain for months. Doctors initially suspected it was an ear infection or tension headache, but the pain eventually became unbearable; Ellis described it like an “electric shock.”

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/canadian-cancer-projections-9.7159535