AS RARE AS A Unicorn By Melissa Walsh Photo Gary Sissons
W
hen Kristen Leknius turned 40 she was not feeling like the vibrant, bubbly woman who had her life before her. Kristen, like many others, had been struggling with baffling and chronic symptoms of illness for three years prior; illnesses doctors and specialists could never seem to cure. It took five long years before the peninsula woman was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumours (NETs), a cancer so rare that many general practitioners were not aware of it. Peninsula Essence talks to Kristen Leknius and Simone Leyden, CEO of the Unicorn Foundation, about the insidious cancer that has taken too many victims, including Simone’s sister, Kate. continued next page...
E ssence
10 | PENINSULA
September 2019