For Selina Robinson, second cancer diagnosis is just an ‘ordinary day’

Days after Selina Robinson learned her cancer had returned, she was at an outdoor concert in Vancouver on Feb. 3 watching Great Big Sea frontman Alan Doyle belt out “Ordinary Day.” Despite the downpour, the veteran NDP cabinet minister and her husband of 36 years, Dan, danced to one third of their favourite band.

“I looked at Dan and we were both weeping,” Robinson said. “It’s just what my soul needed in that moment. It’s just a reminder of how important it is to just keep perspective.”

This week, Robinson announced in the legislature she’s again battling the indiscriminate disease that first upended her life in 2006. Robinson — who ran ultra-marathons at the time — had surgery to remove a rare gastrointestinal stromal tumour and spent 15 years taking medication to keep the cancer at bay.

The 58-year-old told Postmedia News that while the call from her oncologist left her “devastated and heartbroken,” she’s more optimistic this time around, armed with the knowledge that she’s survived it once and will do it again.

“I know that I’ll be OK,” said Robinson, pointing to the advances in cancer research since her first diagnosis.