Darren McClelland was a firefighter in Swift Current for over two decades, eventually taking the role of fire chief before tragically losing his fight with cancer in 2019. 

His wife, Nikkii, is now teaming up with Work Safe Saskatchewan in an effort to start the conversation about firefighter cancer prevention. 

According to a study done by University of the Fraser Valley in 2018, the stark reality is that cancer is a leading cause of death among Canadian firefighters. 

The study found that 86 per cent of all firefighter workplace fatality claims were blamed on cancer, and firefighters are killed by cancer at a rate about three times higher than the general population. 

Firefighter cancer is the second leading cause of work-related occupational disease deaths in the province, according to Work Safe Saskatchewan. In 2020, five firefighters lost their lives to cancer. Between 2010 and 2018, 23 per cent of work-related occupational disease fatalities in Saskatchewan were firefighter cancers. 

McClelland said that her husband always appeared to be in peak condition, passing his medical annually. 

“Even when Darren had cancer, they would get his blood work done and without those tumor markers or the CA levels telling us he's, you know, he’s got cancer, we would have never known,” she said. 

WorkSafe Saskatchewan partnered with Workers Compensation to create a new video series, that will provide resources to help firefighters better protect themselves from life-altering incidences and exposures in their workplaces. 

McClelland features in one of the videos from the series, diving into depth about the hardships that her family had to endure in the hope that she could prevent just one family from experiencing the same pain. 

“All I want to do is honor Darren and try to get my story out there so it can maybe help, or save someone down the road,” she said. “I don't want to see anyone in this position. He was a good man, he was well respected, and he didn't deserve this. And if I could help in any way to save one life, I am honored to tell this story over and over and over again, and hopefully reach out, so no one has to live this life that I and my kids do.” 

McClelland believes that early prevention could be key to saving lives. 

“They want these fit tests done when we're 50,” she said. “Darren wasn't even 50. He would have been 50 this year. There's biochemical markers, tumor markers, levels where you can, in the blood work, you can kind of see if there's any precancerous cells. The one thing I wish you know, I guess, I wish we could take time back and say let's do it when he was 35, 40.” 

To view the video, click here.