Carry The Fire

Determination. Skill. Toughness. It takes a lot to make it to the National Hockey League. But when Toronto Maple Leafs’ forward Dakota Joshua was diagnosed with testicular cancer, he knew it would be his biggest test yet. Dakota talks with Lisa LaFlamme about his cancer journey, and what it means to be back on the ice.

Dr. Raymond Kim is one of the Scientific Leads of the Peter Gilgan Centre for Early Cancer Detection Research and Medical Director of the Bhalwani Familial Cancer Clinic. In OurGenes, a study at The Princess Margaret, 100,000 participants, including host Lisa LaFlamme, will receive genetic testing to detect inherited forms of cancer and more. Plus, we hear from Kristin Light, who went from a routine test to finding out she was positive for a rare cancer gene.

At 25, D’Arcy Bowker went from half‑marathon training to blackouts, soaring blood pressure, and a diagnosis of a rare tumour. When her cancer later spread, Dr. Wong from The Princess Margaret enrolled D’Arcy in a groundbreaking theranostics clinical trial. The treatment brought her disease under control, giving D’Arcy precious time with her growing family. Now a mother of three, D’Arcy shares how innovative cancer care helped save her life and inspired her to support others living with chronic illness.

After going through chemotherapy and radiation to treat his throat cancer, Paul Lonergan was in remission. But every cancer patient knows how difficult it is to be declared ‘cancer-free’. Thanks to a landmark clinical trial at The Princess Margaret, Dr. Spreafico and her team caught Paul’s cancer early when it came back and saved his life again. Paul and Dr. Spreafico join Lisa to talk about what it means to get a new lease on life and how The Princess Margaret works to catch cancer if it recurs.

Beth Johnston was a lifelong athlete and busy mother of two when her leukemia diagnosis forced her to confront losing the one tool that always helped her cope with tough times: running. Despite her diagnosis, Beth shares how movement became her lifeline through her cancer treatment and recovery. With humour and candor, Beth reveals the grit it took to keep going, the mental health strategies that helped her rebuild, and how surviving cancer reshaped her entire outlook on life.

Described as graceful, artistic, and innovative, ice dancer and Olympic bronze medalist Piper Gilles is a lot of things; she’s also a cancer survivor. Piper joins Lisa LaFlamme in a wide-ranging interview following her captivating performance at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Olympic Winter Games, where her journey off the ice inspired her performance on the ice.

In her 20s, Ruby tested positive for a rare genetic mutation that increases her chance of breast cancer. Knowing this, she was able to mitigate her risk of being diagnosed. But a thyroid cancer diagnosis just a few years later came as a total shock. Listen as Ruby and Dr. Stambolic from The Princess Margaret join Lisa for a discussion about the growing number of young people receiving a cancer diagnosis, and what we’re doing at The Princess Margaret to meet this moment.

After attending a free screening event, Rensford De Haan began treatment at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre for a cancer he didn’t even know he had. The mobile event was led by Dr. Neil Fleshner, Love Chair in Prostate Cancer Prevention at The Princess Margaret. This unique initiative was part of a concentrated effort to bring screening directly to more Black men, a community that faces a higher risk of prostate cancer due to both systemic barriers and genetic factors.

Claire Cameron is a best-selling Canadian author and winner of the 2025 Governor General’s Literary Award in Non-Fiction. A lifelong outdoors lover, her identity was upended when she was diagnosed with a hereditary skin cancer and told to avoid sunlight. After receiving treatment at The Princess Margaret, she found new ways to connect with nature and used writing – especially her book, How to Survive a Bear Attack – to process her grief, accept her new limits, and reimagine her love for the outdoors.

When Ryan Gullen, bassist for the popular Canadian rock band The Sheepdogs, lost his father to esophageal cancer, grief showed up in unexpected and complicated ways. In this deeply personal episode, Ryan reflects on navigating hope, guilt, and the quiet aftermath of loss, all while balancing his music and life on the road. Plus, Dr. Madeline Li, a world-leading psychiatrist from The Princess Margaret, unpacks what grief really looks like, why it rarely follows a tidy path, and how we learn to live with it.