North Battleford cancer survivor sheds over 140 pounds with help from TOPS

She laughs a little now at her own history of diets.

“I’ve been a big girl all my life and I’ve tried every diet you can imagine. If you wanna go on a diet,[ask] the fattest person about diet because they’ve tried them all.”

But the real battles weren’t just with food. They were with mortality.

“I’ve had cancer twice. I had breast cancer. So, I went through chemo and radiation, and then I had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma… I’ve beaten cancer twice.”

Through it all, food was both enemy and comfort.

“When you’re going through cancer, they monitor your weight. They don’t want you to lose, they don’t want you to gain, they want you to maintain, so that was one of the struggles,” she said.

“Another struggle that I still have is when I was 12, my mother passed away and I went to live with my grandparents and I was a fat kid… I knew it.”

“Every time I’d go to eat, I felt like my grandmother was watching me, you know, that I would eat too much.”

“So, at mealtime I wouldn’t eat, but I would get up during the night and I would raid the cupboards. I would snack, I would eat to my heart’s content. And that’s formed a habit for me and it’s been a lifelong habit. So at night I still am tempted to eat. So, I struggle with that, but I’m getting it under control.”

The turning point came not in a hospital ward, but in the water.

“I went to the swimming pool and I walked along a lazy river for two hours every day. So then it got me down to my goal weight,” she said.

But she didn’t do it alone. The steady rhythm of water-walking was matched by the steady voices of people who understood.

“According to the TOPS’s records, I’ve lost 140 some pounds (141 pounds), but in reality, I’ve lost 168 pounds.”

TOPS Club, Inc. — Take Off Pounds Sensibly — became her anchor.

“They call it a TOPS chapter, but I call it a TOPS family. Like you go there and they are your friend. You can talk about whatever is bothering you because oftentimes what’s bothering you and causing you to eat isn’t necessarily food, but it’s emotions,” she said.

“If I’m struggling on Thursday, I can call one of them and say, ‘okay, I need to go for coffee, or I need to talk to someone.’ And they’re all kind and understanding… it works really well.”

For years she attended their Provincial Recognition Days, watching others carry candles in the “Circle of Light.”

“I remember going to my first PRD and seeing the circle of light, and that means it’s all the people who have reached their goals circle around the room and they all have a candle. And I was just in such awe about that. It empowered me.”

Last year, she was the one holding the light. Lascelle was crowned the 2024 Saskatchewan Queen, the province’s top achiever in the international weight-loss support network.

“I never dreamt it was possible. I always hoped it was possible. … When I was named Queen, it was just totally amazing. And to have all those people congratulate you and look up to you… it’s an unbelievable feeling. I just love being queen.”

Now, at about 160 pounds, she keeps her resolve with small, hard truths.

“I keep thinking like one candy is the same as walking two football fields, you know?”

The crown isn’t the end. It’s a reminder to keep walking – in water, in life, in faith.

“When you’re on your journey, you’re going to fall off the wagon once in a while and you’re going to eat. Don’t give up,” she said.

“Face your scale and get back on the wagon. It’s an ongoing process and you just have to keep stepping forward as best you can.”

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com

by Kenneth Cheung

North Battleford cancer survivor sheds over 140 pounds with help from TOPS

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