Mike Hooves is a non-binary illustrator, animator, designer, and filmmaker from Calgary, Alberta. They were recently diagnosed with Stage II estrogen-receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer and are capturing their experiences in a blog and graphically on Instagram.

The moment I found that weird lump I was filled with a dread that wouldn’t go away. It relentlessly gnawed at my mind, and writhed in my stomach. “It’s cancer” it would say, but I waved it away and tried to focus on whatever funny tiktok I was watching. The worst was trying to fall asleep and having to sit with and quell this relentless feeling. It was unlike any other anxiety I experienced before.

Mike has also written about their experience navigating gendered spaces in breast cancer and queer communities in Wildfire magazine’s “Queer in Cancerland” issue (Feb/March 2024). More recently they wrote a blog for “Living Beyond Breast cancer“. Mike wrote that coming out is now complicated by a cancer diagnosis:

Just as I am assumed a woman in a breast cancer context, my cancer treatment is assumed gender-affirming in queer contexts. Due to the lack of visibility in both of these spheres, I find myself coming out often; as non-binary in breast cancer spaces and as cancerous in queer spaces.

In queer spaces, the results of my cancer treatments are assumed to be empowered decisions reflecting my gender — my mastectomy assumed as top surgery, my baldness viewed as a gender-neutral haircut, my hormone therapy assumed to be gender-affirming. Meanwhile in breast cancer spaces, I am addressed as ‘she/her,’ lumped in with ‘sisters’ and ‘ladies,’ and my relationship to my body and gender role is assumed.

Encounters with the healthcare system were mixed, for example a surgical consult:

I brought a secure sense of self to my mastectomy consult. I was ready to fight my surgeon as I’d read many stories of patients being pushed towards reconstruction. To my surprise my surgeon brought up my gender identity as he’d noticed it on file. I told him I wanted a double mastectomy with an aesthetic flat closure, with one of the reasons being my identity. He didn’t question my choice, however he made sure to go over all of my surgical options and risks to ensure I was fully informed with my decision. After discussing available options, I confirmed I wanted flat closure for which he happily signed off on.

Mike has also been the subject of a short documentary film that premiered at the Calgary Film Festival in 2024.

More about Mike and their breast cancer experience here. 

You can also contribute to Mike’s GoFundMe here.