Jody’s Story

It was August 2020 when 44-year-old Jody Woytiuk, a farmer from the Shell Lake area, was diagnosed with stage 3 stomach cancer.

Scared of what this meant for her husband, Jackie Woytiuk received some hope from his oncologists. “He was fortunate to be put on a new form of chemotherapy which improved his chances of survival from less than 30% to more than 50%,” said Jackie.

Following the chemo treatments, Jody underwent surgery to remove one-third of his stomach and two-thirds of his esophagus.

Jody and Jackie’s daughter, Olivia, wanted to give back to the organization that helped to save her dad’s life. As the head of the Wild Rose 4-H Beef Club, she encouraged the club to donate the funds raised at the upcoming Prince Albert Regional 4-H Beef Show and Sale to the Foundation’s 4D CT Simulator Community Campaign.

The charity steer auction raised an amazing $49,390. This was matched by Malcolm Jenkins from Prince Albert Canadian Tire and the JGL Group of Companies. In total, over $150,000 was raised for the new 4D CT Simulator at the Saskatoon Cancer Centre.

Jody, now nearly one-year cancer-free, never used the 4D CT simulator as it arrived after his treatment. But in a twist of fate, a family member who developed throat cancer in 2022 had imaging from the simulator to assist in their radiation therapy.

“It was a really big deal for us that we had done something that helped another family member, because without the 4-H auction, the new simulator might not have been operational for him to use it. That was the purpose — we wanted to give back and provide hope,” said Jackie.

Jody’s story was featured in Your 2021-2022 Donor Report alongside other inspiring stories of generosity. Read the Report here: https://cancerfoundationsask.ca/who-we-are/annualreports/