‘Grief Library’ helping N.S. woman’s family, kids cope with her cancer diagnosis

Topics of death and grief can be hard to broach, so a Nova Scotia library is hoping to help people navigate the difficult emotions surrounding loss through books.

Topics of death and grief can be hard to broach, but the founders of a Nova Scotia library hope to help people navigate difficult emotions surrounding loss through books.

When the Valley Hospice Foundation’s Grief Library launched last year in Coldbook, N.S., Janet Balsom was its first client.

At the time, the mother of two young kids had just been diagnosed with Stage 4 colon cancer at the age of 45.

“It’s a little surreal, but that’s how cancer works,” she said.

She had just started a new job as a school counsellor when her symptoms first appeared, including chronic fatigue.

“I was dragging through the day all that fall. I thought maybe, because I’m in my 40s, it’s a new job, I’ve got two kids, perimenopause, depression — those kind of things. But we did bloodwork and discovered that I was very anemic,” she said.

After more tests, she was told she had an incurable cancer.

“At first we were hopeful for a cure — at this point that’s not what’s going to happen. Now it’s just about enjoying the last months and setting everybody up for going into the after-times as well as they can,” she said.