New choir offers community for Saint John cancer patients, caregivers

For 29-year-old Samantha Keays, music has always been therapeutic. And after learning she had breast cancer, music was one of the things that helped distract her and clear her head.

Then she heard about a new choir, called Healing Voices, for people who have cancer, have had it or who care for people with the disease. Keays knew she needed to sign up.

“Unless you’ve actually gone through it … it’s different,” she said.

“So to see that there was this Healing Voices choir of people who have gone through it, and the people who have first-hand been by their side … I thought it was an incredible opportunity.”

The choir starts rehearsals on Saturday, with a concert set for Feb. 15 at St. Mark’s United Church. All the proceeds will go to Horizon Health Network’s Stay Strong program.

For Keays, meeting other people who went through or are going through what she did has been vital. 

Keays only moved to Saint John a year and a half ago, so she didn’t have many family or friends in the area. Although her partner, Christopher — her “rock” — was by her side, he still often had to work 10-hour shifts.

“When I was first diagnosed, like, I thought my world ended, I felt so alone,” she said.

“Finding … my support people through the different programs and things, like I felt like I wasn’t alone, and they really understood me.”

The idea for the Healing Voices choir is that of Kelly Galbraith, a former CBC Music producer and longtime director of multiple choirs, including the Saint John Men’s Chorus and Cantores Celestes Maritimes. 

The thought came to her shortly after her own surprise cancer diagnosis last year, when she woke up in the middle of the night, looked at her husband and said, “You know what I’m supposed to do? I’m supposed to start another choir.”

And that’s what she did.

After she put up posters at the Saint John Regional Hospital and posted to social media, more than 80 people signed up before the first rehearsal.

Music served as a relaxation tool for Galbraith during her last few difficult cancer treatments — listening to the slow, meditative tune of Gorecki’s Symphony No. 3.

But Galbraith said singing in a choir can provide additional benefits. 

“Your heartbeats line up, you breathe deeper … you have to listen to each other, and it’s creating that bond,” she said.

“It’s just letting go and letting the music wash over you.”

Galbraith chose songs for the choir to sing that are similar in theme, including Bridge Over Troubled Water, Lean on Me and That’s What Friends Are For.

She hopes the choir will provide a space for people to know they’re not alone. And the concert itself can serve as an ode to the people who have helped them.

“The whole theme is friendship,” Galbraith said. “You can’t do this on your own.”

Galbraith said the choir is open to newcomers as well as seasoned choral singers.

Heather Purcell has been singing in a choir called Raise Your Voice for four years. She was diagnosed with ovarian and endometrial cancer last year and is undergoing chemotherapy again for a recurrence.

One of the women in her choir told Purcell about Healing Voices, and she wanted to get involved.

“When you’re going through something like this, like cancer … it’s so comforting to have some community around it,” Purcell said.

Singing has helped Purcell through some of the mental health challenges that can accompany a cancer diagnosis, and she thinks joining this choir will be a powerful experience, evoking different emotions.

Ahead of the first rehearsal, Olivia Donovan of Hampton was listening to some of the music that she would be singing in the choir and already wondered how she was going to do it without crying.

She joined the choir because she is the caregiver for her husband, Alvin, who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer 20 months ago.

Donovan said she’s been very focused on wellness for Alvin but was also concerned about herself, not wanting to give up the activities that keep her grounded enough to continue providing him with the best care.

Now, those activities will include singing with the Healing Voices choir.

“You sort of belong to a club you don’t want to belong to when someone close to you has been diagnosed with cancer,” Donovan said.

“But it also has a silver lining that we’ve met lots of people who have had similar experiences, and as his caregiver, I really feel that it’s important for me to connect with other caregivers, but also other people who are fighting cancer. 

“It’s a very difficult journey, but it is also, in some ways, a beautiful one.”