Cheryl became involved in the myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) community in 1991, when her late husband, Eugene, was diagnosed with essential thrombocythemia (ET). Over the course of the next 15 years of her husband living with ET, little did she know how this would impact their lives.

It wasn't until 2010 when Eugene's illness progressed to myelofibrosis (MF). It was then that Cheryl learned all she could about the disease to be the best caregiver and care partner to help navigate the next part of the journey.

What Cheryl learned along the way was that all the knowledge gained in this journey and all the information about this disease would be wasted if she didn't do something with this educational part of the journey.

Eugene lost his battle with MF in 2018. However, Cheryl's passion and mission in life became to continue to help others with this journey, to help stimulate new and ongoing research, to help the entire MPN community come together to help others live a better life, in control of their disease and the effects it has on their day-to-day life.

Cheryl’s outlook on life is: Tell me it can't be done, and I will tell you I don't believe it. I will say prove it, and I will prove you wrong!

Cheryl's goals are to help patients with MPNs live a normal life and enjoy life without the fear of having an incurable blood cancer.

Cheryl helped to bring together the Canadian MPN Network , a patient advocacy group, and founded the Canadian MPN Research Foundation. By keeping the MPN community in Canada connected, the words of family and team become part of who we are.

Sole 2 Soul for MPN™ is an important event for Cheryl, bringing together patients, caregivers, supporters and stakeholders, all who have a passion for making things happen. We need to give patients with MPNs a chance at a normal life, with normal outcomes, and the opportunity to live life without the thought in the back of their minds of, “I have this incurable blood cancer.”

Donate to Cheryl’s fundraising page: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/canadian-mpn-research-foundation/p2p/Sole-2-Soul-for-MPN/page/cmpnrf-sole-2-soul-cheryl-petruk/