Nadine McKenzie, a 39-year-old single mother of two young daughters, says she had to advocate for herself and do a lot of her own research to get a breast cancer diagnosis. • She knew it wouldn't be an easy process because, like many Ontarians, she's on a waitlist for a family doctor. For two weeks, she says she attempted to get into walk-in clinics and ended up relying on Telehealth Ontario. • She eventually went to an ER, where tests revealed an abnormally large growth in her right breast. On Sept. 19, McKenzie says doctors confirmed it was an advanced breast cancer. Later, she would find out it was Stage 4. • McKenzie says the entire process required a lot of help and self-advocacy. Experts say this is partly due to a shortage of family doctors in the province, and also the result of systemic barriers Black and other racialized women face in the health-care system. • McKenzie says part of the challenge was that even when she was doing her own research, she didn't see any breasts that looked like her own. She wonders how this might have contributed to her delayed diagnosis. • "When I decided to become my own Google doctor and start looking into things I was not able to find any breast that looked like mine when I searched for breast cancer," she said. • "But I was able to find white breasts of every kind at every stage of cancer." • To read more, click the link in our bio. • • • 📄 + 📸: Talia Ricci/CBC #cbctoronto #cbcto #Toronto #Ajax #Cancer #BreastCancer