In this Leap series, we capture the bravery, strength, honesty, hope and resilience of Albertans living with cancer.
As told to Alberta Cancer Foundation, compiled by Colleen Seto
Barrie Stafford has always held a positive team mentality, whether as the Edmonton Oilers’ head equipment manager for 28 years, heading up philanthropy initiatives with Oilers alumni, as a director with the Cure Cancer Foundation or on his personal cancer journey.
Following injuries and illness, Stafford was diagnosed with multiple myeloma (a rare blood cancer) in 2011. He underwent four months of chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant that put his cancer in remission for 10 years. In 2022, he relapsed and had a completely different treatment experience — an immunotherapy clinical trial had him back in remission in just two months. Stafford later developed skin cancer on his face that required surgery in November 2025. After three cycles of immunotherapy, he is currently showing no evidence of disease.
Stafford shares his cancer journey to offer hope to others and help raise funds for immunotherapy research and treatment through Edmonton’s Toast of the Town event. He’s an active co-chair of the event, raising funds and making a difference for Albertans facing cancer.
“I was lifting a chair and I felt a tweak in my back. Oh man, I was in pain. I had a compression fracture in my T5.
[After] a couple of scans and within a couple of hours, the doctor pulled me into a back room and closed the door. I heard those words that I hope nobody ever has to hear: ‘You have cancer.’
I didn’t know if I was going to live or die. That gets your attention.
[I later met with] Dr. Irwindeep Sandhu, who is my oncologist to this day, and just a wonderful person. He said, ‘Barrie, you have multiple myeloma.’
But then he said, ‘I think I can help you.’
Well, that changed everything. He told me I wasn’t going to die.
I spent a month in the hospital. When I got discharged, I had lost 20 pounds. I had no hair. I’d been through a rough go with that stem cell transplant.
But I was back at work in less than four months. I like to say I’m a cancer thriver, not a survivor.
Getting cancer is not necessarily a death sentence. We have the highest rate of survival right across the country because of cutting-edge treatments like immunotherapy, advancing cancer care in Alberta.
When I relapsed in 2022, I was in the hospital for only a few days [to receive immunotherapy]. Within two months, without any symptoms or side effects, I was back in remission. I thought, ‘I like this immunotherapy.’
We’re at a turning point that is changing the way cancer patients are being treated today, right here in Alberta. It’s just amazing what’s happening. The Toast of the Town mandate is to honour the Cross Cancer Institute staff and try to raise some money to help them do their job.
I’ve learned how important it is to help the next patient in line. It’s a typical thing for Albertans — they roll up their sleeves, they go to work, they just get the job done. And that’s why I’m proud to be an Albertan as well.”
