May 24, 2012
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Angels don’t wear pyjamas: they inspire

Survivor hopes to help others with a motivational CD

Michelle Arbus
Survivor Christina Doyle is now a happy, healthy mom, teacher and singer

Survivor Christina Doyle is now a happy, healthy mom, teacher and singer

CHRISTINA DOYLE, A survivor of a rare form of bone cancer who once thought she was on death’s door, is now a happy mom, teacher and singer, living life to the fullest in her Richmond Hill home. Fifteen years after experiencing trauma most never endure, Doyle is giving back with the launch of her motivational recording Angels Don’t Wear Pajamas. A portion of each copy sold will go to Princess Margaret Hospital.

Doyle, who is also a country music musician, tells the story of her journey with bone cancer. But she hopes to reach many types of people.

“I wanted it to help encourage a troubled soul, whether someone is facing a divorce or has just lost their job,” Doyle says. “Of course you are screaming and yelling and pounding the counter asking, ‘Why me?’ But in the end, I wanted people to have a cushion to fall on.”

“Of course you are screaming and yelling and pounding the counter asking, ‘Why me?’ But in the end, I wanted people to have a cushion to fall on.”

Doyle hopes to offer support that she was unable to find during her struggle with cancer. Unlike the breast cancer community, which “offers lots of support, as a bone cancer survivor, I was really on my own.” Doyle was one of only four individuals in the world diagnosed with her kind of bone cancer.

After discovering that the tumour in the femur area of her left leg was malignant, Doyle felt helpless. She was barely leaving the house, fearful of friends and neighbours witnessing her limping around. Her faith, she notes, “came in the form of a five-foot-three-inch, 76-year-old woman:  my mother.”

“So what if you die?” her mother asked. “Didn’t you have a nice family?  Didn’t you have children, a nice husband, a thriving career?” Doyle’s mother reminded her how fortunate she was. “And I started to live in the moment,” Doyle says. “To really look at life, just today.” Doyle had surgery to put a stainless steel prosthetic in her leg. That prosthetic saved her life.

The strength Doyle struggled to find is now what she hopes to offer up to many others with Angels Don’t Wear Pajamas. This audio CD is not just about Doyle’s journey, but rather about inspiring others. She says she hopes the recording will be distributed to other countries and translated into other languages in the future.

“Pain is pain no matter what language it comes in,” she says. “I want to reach as many people who might, or will, need it.”

Doyle will launch the CD at Indigo in Richmond Hill on Oct. 25.

Post City Magazines salutes Christina Doyle for working to support and encourage others who are battling cancer or struggling with other issues.

This article appears in the October 2009 issue of Post City Magazines

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