T ed Johnston is a prostate cancer survivor of 12 years. He was monitored by his doctor for approximately eight years before the cancer was detected – and at that point, in 1996, it was found to be large, aggressive and, because the cancer was assumed to be out of the gland, beyond treatment by surgery. He underwent External Beam Radiation Therapy in 1996 and subsequently on anti-androgen therapy which continues to the present. Ted had been a Canadian diplomat who had been posted to Washington D.C.; Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; San Francisco, California; and Warsaw, Poland during his 32-year career. In between he was assigned to a variety of positions at headquarters that ranged from administrative to aid and development to physical security for posts abroad. He retired in 1998.
In coming to grips with his cancer, he joined and became active in the local support group, Prostate Cancer Association Ottawa (PCAO). For several years, he edited the monthly newsletter, and then became chairman in 2005 for two years. He remains an active member of the Association. As a result of becoming involved in the first and subsequent ‘Do It for Dad’ family run and walk in Ottawa, he has had a close involvement with the work of the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation and The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre.
At the same time, in his retirement, he became an artist, specializing in wood cut prints of urban architecture in Ottawa and abroad as well as figures of humans and animals and more fanciful illustrations.
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