Norm Mickle
Norm is on a mission to ensure everyone knows that cancer screening saved his life, and it can also save yours.
The Spot No One Expected
At 71 years old, Norm Mickle considers himself lucky. He’s an active member in his community, is rarely sick, and other than having his tonsils out as a child, he had never even faced a surgical procedure. Because of his longtime history as a smoker, Norm’s family doctor insisted on yearly chest x-rays, just to be safe.
Checkups became part of his yearly routine. Each time, with a clean scan. Norm had no symptoms, no shortness of breath, no warning signs at all. But in 2024, a routine x-ray revealed a spot on his lung, prompting his care team to jump into action.
Bravery in the Face of Fear
After the spot appeared, Norm was quickly referred to a lung specialist for a biopsy. The first results were inconclusive, and for a moment, Norm allowed himself to believe everything was fine. But a follow-up PET scan told a different story… Norm had a tumour, and it was cancer.
When surgeons explained that the tumour was sitting in a difficult place and needed to be removed, he hesitated. “I had said, let’s just wait a year and see what happens,” Norm recalls. “My doctor then drew a picture for me: my lung, and that spot growing to a place where they couldn’t get at it, which was over top of my windpipe.” For Norm, agreeing to undergo surgery was one of the scariest moments of his life.
On November 1, 2024, Norm went in for surgery to remove the top lobe of his right lung. What was supposed to be a four-hour procedure stretched into eight, as surgeons worked carefully to remove the tumour. In the end, Norm’s surgery was successful, the spot was confirmed to be cancer, and the surgeons had successfully removed all of it.
Norm considers himself one of the lucky ones. Thanks to early cancer screening, his diagnosis came soon enough that a single surgery was all the treatment he needed. As Norm puts it, “I won the cancer lottery.”
Norm’s experience changed him. He’s learned that courage doesn’t mean being unafraid, it means doing what’s necessary, even when you’re scared. And now, his message is simple: get screened. He knows fear keeps many people from getting checked, or from believing that cancer could happen to them. But Norm hopes his story is your reminder to take that step.
“Early detection will save your life. I am a living example of that. I never had a symptom, nothing. And I had lung cancer.”
Together, Let’s Grow the Future of Local Cancer Care
As a 2025 Grow On Ambassador alongside Mark (left) and Tyler (right), Norm is sharing his story as a powerful reminder that early detection truly can make a difference. This November, join Grow on Windsor to raise funds and awareness and support world class cancer care close to home.
