Rick Nigg figures he owes his survival from colon cancer to breakthrough drugs, his relentless anger at the disease — and his guitar.
After four operations, five blood transfusions and 40-plus chemotherapies, the Red Deer College music instructor has beaten several medical predictions of his demise.
When doctors first discovered his colon cancer had spread to other organs in 2007, they gave Nigg 21 months to live.
They later said less than a year — “and here I am, three years later,” said Nigg, who regularly sat up in his hospital bed and played the guitar to help manage the “indescribable” physical pain and emotional trauma of his ordeal.
Now he plans to play at a conservatory of music concert on Sunday to raise money for the Alberta Cancer Foundation.
Many of his friends and fellow RDC instructors plan to join him during his Performance with a Purpose concert, which will mix various musical styles — from classical to Celtic and bluegrass — for a good cause.
Nigg, who hopes to raise $25,000 for cancer research, considers the afternoon concert in the Margaret Parsons Theatre at Red Deer College kind of payback for his survival, thanks to “God and technology.”
The 52-year-old guitarist plans to play with his Irish band, Ceol Glas. Other performers at the two-hours concert include Red Deer Symphony violinist Louise Stuppard, classic guitarist Shannon Frizzell, and singer Sharon Braun.
As well, the Waskasoo Bluegrass Society Band and Nigg’s students, who will play in a funk band called Underside Pattern.
While Nigg owes a lot to such breakthrough drugs such as Avastin, which are now more accessible in Canada, he knows his cancer will never entirely disappear. He must keep returning for chemotherapy to keep it at bay — he calls this ongoing “maintenance.”
There were many times, said Nigg, when it would have been simpler to give up. “It would have been easy to die by not eating anymore.”
But he recalled getting so angry at the insidious disease that he forced himself to watch cooking shows to get his appetite back. “I willed myself back to life.”
At his weakest point, Nigg’s 1.67-metre (five-foot-six) frame weighed less than 40 kg (90 pounds). But Nigg was still optimistic enough during this period to marry his common-law wife. “I married her because I love my wife. We’ve been together 18 years.”
He’s since regained enough weight and strength to go back to playing the bagpipes with the Red Deer Legion Bagpipers. He’s up to 78 kg (172 pounds) and is teaching one day a week at the college. But he admitted “sometimes I have survivor’s guilt.”
He’s the only one out of the core group he got to know at Red Deer’s cancer centre who’s still alive.
His friends credit Nigg for his optimistic attitude, which they call “an inspiration.”
Nigg said he never once really believed he was going to die — although he technically was dead briefly when he lost his pulse while in hospital.
“It’s harder to live than to die, really,” added the guitar instructor, who feels stress while waiting for CT scan results to tell him whether his cancer is getting worse.
But in the end, he figures he still has a lot to live for — including his 30-year-old daughter and his students.
Nigg is hoping to make the fundraising concert an annual event.
There’s no admission charge to the 2 p.m. show but donations will be accepted for cancer research.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com