By : Anne Stairs.
Gabrielle Duhamel is passionate about helping people with cancer diagnoses or other physical limitations through her private kinesiology clinic. Kinesiology, for the uninitiated, is the science of improving physical capacity through movement, regardless of the individual situation.
A Unique Clinic
Duhamel runs the only private clinic of its kind in Quebec, and the Brome-Missisquoi Hospital Foundation believes in her work so much that they finance three free sessions for a patient receiving a cancer diagnosis.
Duhamel affirms that research shows that physical activity increases cancer survival rates, lowers recurrence rates, and eases the transition back to normal life by promoting quality of life along the journey.
A Personal Journey
Duhamel has come to this vocation the hard way. Her mother died of cancer when she was working as a personal trainer. This motivated her to find solutions for people receiving a diagnosis, during treatment, and at end of life. The day she started her path towards a master’s degree in 2014, she herself received a leukemia diagnosis.
“My personal struggle with cancer gives patients confidence that I truly understand their situation,” Duhamel says.
Loss of job, friends, money, and physical capacity are some of the challenges of cancer that can lead to depression and feelings of isolation.
Keeping Hope Alive Through Movement
Celebrating the capacities of what someone can do on the day they come to the clinic, rather than who they were in a former life, is key to keeping hope alive and building movement into a person’s life in a meaningful way.
Gabrielle also works with clients with injuries, or other physical limitations, that want to improve their quality of life despite their chronic condition.
Where to Find Gabrielle
Gabrielle works out of Tennis Lac Brome at 584 Knowlton Road. Contact information is on her website, gabrielleduhamel.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment.