Cancer Community Nipissing is a dedicated website for local cancer resources in the greater Nipissing area.

A cancer diagnosis is a challenging journey— we need to pay attention to the things that make the journey easier and allow the best recovery. Having a single, reliable place to turn to for local resources can make a significant difference in reducing stress and improving overall well-being. It is essential for ensuring that patients, caregivers, and families can easily access the support they need when they need it.

What is CCN?

A woman with cancer is sitting at a table with two cups of coffee.

Cancer Community Nipissing eliminates the frustration of searching for services scattered across different organizations and locations, providing up-to-date information on available programs, financial assistance, transportation options, and support groups. This empowers individuals to find help quickly and efficiently. 


The information you find on Cancer Community Nipissing will evolve over time. We hope that cancer patients and their families become the ones who are “writing” this website. If you know of any resources we have not found, have other suggestions for us, or would like to become a writer, please Contact Us.

Meet the Team

CCN

A black and white drawing of a stick figure with a circle in the middle.

Sheryl Riley

Sheryl is a family doctor in Callander/North Bay and a breast cancer survivor. She diagnosed herself with breast cancer in 2015. Despite being a family doctor it was still a challenging journey. The medical part of the journey was well laid out but finding all the other resources needed along the way was difficult. There was no central repository of the resources that were available in our area. She and Nicky Poulin, started the “Silver Linings: Before, During and After cancer fair” to bring some of those resources to the forefront in the community. The money raised from 3 years of the fair has been used to make this website. She has since donated her time collecting and writing the contents of the website.

A black and white drawing of a stick figure with a circle in the middle.

Nicky Poulin

Nicky wears many hats, working as a graphics designer at AHA communications and as a yoga instructor and personal life coach at OHANA yoga studios. Nicky is very interested in both physical and mental health and through her work at OHANA has helped many people during their cancer journeys. As part of giving back to the community she proposed the one day cancer workshop to Dr. Riley that led to the “Silver Linings: Before, During and After cancer fair”. She has since also donated her time and expertise to making this website. 

Cancer Community Nipissing Origin Story

The  idea for Cancer Community Nipissing came out of a Cancer Journey and the idea of having a Cancer Wellness Day.


Dr. Sheryl Riley is a family doctor who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015. Despite being in the medical field, it was still a confusing journey. Like most patients, you don’t know how to find the resources you need for your journey. And you don’t know what you don’t know, so it's hard to find the questions to ask. Finding the resources was hit and miss. There was no one place to go to find what was needed.


Nicky Poulin is a yoga instructor and therapist from Ohana Yoga studios. Many of her clients were going through cancer journeys and she saw them struggle to find resources. Where do people go to find what they need?


Nicky routinely does “wellness days” at her yoga studio and decided a cancer wellness day would be a greatly needed one. She recruited Dr. Riley to help with this as she had the unique perspective of both being in the medical field and being a patient.


This was the beginning of Silver Linings Cancer Fair: Before, During and After. 

Even in the first year there were so many talks and resources that it had to move to the Callander Community center. 


The fair offered talks & lectures and booths from many different support areas: Pharmacies, Naturopaths, Medical Support, Group and Organizational Support including, The North Bay Dragon Boat Racers, CIBC Run for The Cure, Canadian Cancer Foundation, NNPCN, Volunteers sewers and much more. The community came together to make this fair work with overwhelming enthusiasm. People WANTED to help. And people CAME.


Many of our local specialists met face to face for the first time. This allowed them to get to know what was out there and form a better or new network between them.


This also gave opportunity for survivors to talk openly about their journeys; the challenges and the silver linings, and to build a further sense of support. A feeling of being safe, resourced and connected.


But where was all this information other than the fair? Only in the heads of the people who had attended. The knowledge of the local resources seemed so valuable and needed, that we decided to try to make a website to bring all of this together in one accessible place.


This is where the idea of Cancer Community Nipissing started. It is meant as a "Living, breathing site powered by the community.” This meant to be a grass roots place where cancer patients can share what community resources they found on their journey to help the next person who may need it.