Why this author with New West roots is thanking cancer

We’re all fairly familiar with the ‘F*ck Cancer’ campaign, I’m sure, and if you’re not, there are plenty of places to find info on it.

But what about thanking cancer?

Jedro “JedRocks” Magtoto is flipping the script on the way we think about our encounters with life situations in his debut book, Thank You Cancer. The Uptown New West alum’s book takes a deep dive into his terrifying experiences with the diagnosis while offering a sobering look into the life he’s experienced so far.

“[Cancer] gave me the opportunity to have a second chance at life. To live the life I want,” he tells The Anchor. “I accepted [the diagnosis]. You can’t control some of the things that happen in life, but we can control our attitude towards it.”

Even before he found out he had cancer, he says the ‘F*ck cancer’ framing didn’t make him feel comfortable.

“I just couldn't vibe with it even though I did lose family members [to] it, who had died. I just couldn't,” he shares, adding that the way in which he was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour—which we won’t spoil for you—happened in the blink of an eye.

“[Pre-diagnosis], I wasn't really kind of living [for] myself. I'd be sitting in the office under fluorescent lights and [these thoughts] would come out. ‘Jed! This isn’t really you!’ I’d be like, ‘no, no, no, no, no,’ trying to push it down, because what would people think of me?”

Magtoto doesn’t shy away from his past of people pleasing. That, along with the antithesis of brain cancer, resulted in a synthesis of a new way of thinking.

“If somebody [was] happy and they tell you that, you're like, ‘oh i'm happy because they're happy.’ That sort of thing. [I learned] happiness really does come from within us, but I was pushing it down. And because of doing that, I wasn't really loving myself.”

Magtoto’s book takes the reader on the journey from his birth—the stories that were passed on to him from members of his family as a baby, and the experiences he remembers in childhood—up until the most recent years of his life. Today, he wears many hats: along with writing, he’s often found working on profiles of the people in his community, and making sure everything at Fil-Can Clothing is running smoothly. For Magtoto, Fil-Can Clothing serves two purposes: creating apparel that represents Filipino heritage, but also exposing Filipinos—particularly those in Canada—to the incredible learnings his Pinoy culture can offer.

Magtoto moved around quite a bit in his early days; in BC, part of his childhood was spent living in East Vancouver. But when he looks back at his time in New West, he goes down a rabbit hole of sorts, making reference to the Labatt Brewery.

“I was just known as the guy [among friends and acquaintances], you know, ‘hey, where do you live?’ I’d be like, ‘New West! The [Labatt] Brewery!’” Magtoto exclaims, adding that while his family was was in the Uptown area, the entire city felt like his backyard.

“Sapperton, you know, we had our little pockets. It was a 25-minute walk away, but we’d just go there and kick it,” Magtoto explains with a smile.

Today, the tumour is gone, and Magtoto says he’s feeling optimistic about this chapter of his life—especially as he gets to watch his son grow up.

And while he’s open to experiencing everything, there is at least one thing he’d probably never do.

“Cave diving,” he says, noting with a laugh that while he was previously uncomfortable with tight spaces, the number of MRIs he’d experienced seemed to help with that.

As for what he hopes people will take away from his experiences?

“Everyone has a story, and I think that everyone should share…what they’ve done with their lives,” says Magtoto. “Have a blog. Be on social media. Say something about yourself. Tell your story and put yourself out there, because we are human beings: we thrive off a village, a community mentality.”

You can find Magtoto’s self-published book, Thank You Cancer on Amazon. To keep with Magtoto’s work, check out his website, or follow Fil-Can Clothing—as well as his personal account—on Instagram.