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Heart of our city: Sheila Seidemann is cancer's worst nightmare

For Sheila Seidemann, there’s no place she’d rather be on that day than supporting those that need the friendly face.
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Sheila Seidemann has dedicated much of her time to support those battling cancer in the community.

Anyone who has ever made the trek around the survivor’s lap at the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay For Life in Prince Rupert within the past 15 years has likely seen her under an enthusiastically-decorated yellow and blue tent, cheering walkers and their families on and inspiring them to “fight back”.

For Sheila Seidemann, there’s no place she’d rather be on that day than supporting those that need the friendly face. And it’s possible through the coordinating efforts that she and the relay’s organizing committee have put into the event year after year.

“The survivors are the big thing,” said Sheila last week.

“The more survivors we have in the yellow shirts, the better.”

The symbolic sunshine yellow-coloured T-shirt has come to signify the wearer’s remarkable battle with the disease which has driven researchers and scientists to work for decades to find a cure and is the leading cause of death in Canada with 30 per cent of all deaths in the country cancer-related, according to a 2011 Statistics Canada survey.

Sheila, a born-and-raised Rupertite, had previously been a participant on a team for the relay until the new millennium, when the disease hit close to home and provided her and her friends at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church a reason to start a team of their own.

“Around 2000 or 2001, a close friend of mine who also belongs to St. Paul’s Church was diagnosed with breast cancer and we decided we would put in a team to support her,” said the team captain.

“Sometimes, when people are having treatment, especially if they’re having chemotherapy, their immune system is very low and they can’t really be around people. It’s really hard to support them, so we decided we would put in a team.”

That St. Paul’s Lutheran Church relay team has been together since. They’ve grown and reduced in number, but they’ve consistently remained among the top-fundraising teams in Prince Rupert.

The group even won the Canadian Cancer Society’s Community Champion Award last year, an honour that “recognizes the non-Canadian Cancer Society community, and organizations/corporations for special, specific and topical contributions to the society”.

“Our decorating team [for the tent] has a very ‘don’t-hold-back’ attitude. It’s very over-decorated and we’re fortunate that we usually get team members sitting there all day cheering people on and inspiring people and that’s one of the things [the award recognizes] ... it’s the support and also the fact that we’ve been doing it [awhile] and the amount we’ve raised and it’s an honour. I know that everyone on the team, when they heard about it; they were thrilled,” said Sheila.

On the organizing committee since 2013, Sheila, Cathy Quane, Judy Levelton and Jen Silva, among many others, help put on the relay, considered to be one of the most deeply personal and touching events that Prince Rupert has annually.

Along with the relay, Sheila had always been interested in the artistic and creative side of life.

After graduating high school and attending Camosun College for an Associate of Arts diploma in Fine Art, Sheila’s personal career in the northern port town flourished.

Having taken pottery and photography classes prior, Sheila taught the former at the civic centre and made the latter her place of work for a time.

“I worked at Shutter Shack and it seems like an awful long time ago now, but the one-hour photography was a brand new thing ... so I worked there for a few years,” she said.

“I still have all my [pottery and photography] equipment.”

That equipment includes a manual camera and even a darkroom to develop photos.

“I was really into it and I hope to have more time in the future to get back into it ... I’m not planning to teach [pottery] in the future. I would do it for myself and probably my grandkids,” Sheila said, adding she’d also like to improve her skills in quilting.

After her time at Shutter Shack and raising her son as a single mom, Sheila worked at Small Craft Harbours’ branch of fisheries in Port Edward.

“I really enjoyed it. It was a great job but from the get-go it was always temporary. And then this job at Transport Canada came up and a friend who worked at Small Craft Harbours recommended me. I went through the process and got the job,” she said.

“So I started there in 1990 and five years later, Canada Customs gave the ship registry back to Transport Canada ... so it became my job and I loved it. It was very interesting – I got to talk to really interesting people and hear all these stories ... it was a lot of problem-solving, which I liked,” she explained, adding she got to speak with seafarers of all sorts, buying fishing vessels, pleasure-craft, tugboats and the like.

In 2012, the ship registry was centralized in Ottawa, though Sheila still enjoys her time at Transport Canada.

Above all, the Rupertite is thankful that she can not only be a support system for area residents battling it out with cancer, but that she has such a terrific support system herself.

“My team is always pitching in. They’re always there first thing in the morning to help set up and they always have a real can-do attitude. They’re a really fantastic committee,” she said.

“Our volunteers as a whole ... are just amazing. They show up they’re helpful, they’re cheerful and I can’t sing their praises enough.”

To help Sheila and the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church team for the May 30, 2015 Relay For Life, you can donate to her personal page at convio.cancer.ca/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFL_BC_odd_?px=5397719&pg=personal&fr_id=18426

With the help of donors and supporters, Sheila will continue on in the face of those who are unable to do so.

“[From being a part of the relay for the past number of years], not every year, you’re going to see the same people back. Some of them don’t survive, and that’s something you notice.”