In 2023, Winnipegger Jordan Powell had his sights set on a national powerlifting championship after breaking the provincial record that year.
But he says, at the time, something felt off.
“During my training, I kept noticing I wasn’t recovering enough between workouts. So, was like, ‘Oh, I better dial in my sleep, dial in my nutrition. Got all that taken care of … kept getting worse,” Powell, 35, told Global News.
“Eventually they (doctors) figured out that it was cancer.”
In his 30s, Powell had been diagnosed with hairy cell leukemia and started undergoing weekly chemotherapy treatments. Hairy cell leukemia is a slow-growing cancer of the white blood cells.
“I would have to do two injections a day. The first one took about 10 hours, so that was pretty rough,” he said.
But Powell was inspired to power through his treatments and continued to lift, documenting his journey on his Instagram account to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society.
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“I think movement is medicine, that’s very important,” Powell said.
Recent data shows cancer rates in younger adults like Powell are on the rise.
A report published in 2023 by BMJ Oncology shows that new early-onset cancer cases, or cases in people aged 15 to 49 years old, increased by 79.1 per cent from 1990 to 2019.
“An example, for instance, would be colorectal cancer,” said Dr. Jennifer Gillis, the director of surveillance with the Canadian Cancer Society.
“It can be due to multiple factors such as alcohol use, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, (those) may be contributing to this. But it’s really important to recognize these modifiable risk factors do not fully explain the trends that we’re seeing as well. That’s why research is such a cornerstone for us to better understand this increasing trend that we’re seeing both in Canada and globally.”
According to data compiled and shared by Statistics Canada, the Public Health Agency of Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society, last year, 254,800 Canadians were diagnosed with cancer, and 87,400 lost their lives to the disease.
The types of cancers most commonly diagnosed also vary by age. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, for people aged 15 to 29, the most commonly diagnosed types of cancer are thyroid, testicular, Hodgkin lymphoma, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. For Canadians ages 30 to 39, the most commonly diagnosed types of cancer include breast, thyroid, colorectal and melanoma.
As for Powell, he’s now focused on recovery, regaining strength, and setting more records.
“I squatted 800 pounds six months after chemo,” he said.
“So I think we’ll hit the national record this year. Knock on wood, no injuries.”
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