This veteran thinks his brain cancer is linked to his deployment. He pushed for special benefits — and won

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It took three attempts for a retired military officer diagnosed with a rare brain cancer to receive special benefits from Veterans Affairs Canada. Bruce Mayo researched and found others with the same diagnosis who also served in Southwest Asia. Mayo wants Canada to change its presumptive injury list, putting it in line with U.S. policy.

Medals and framed family photos on display in retired major Bruce Mayo's Ottawa living room pay tribute to generations of military service.

"We are veterans of every conflict that Canada has participated in since 1900," said Mayo, 70, who joined the Canadian Forces as a teenager and later became a military lawyer.

His father was a pilot during the Second World War, his grandfather fought in France during the First World War and his wife, retired major Dr. Sandra West, served as a medical officer in Afghanistan.

While Mayo served overseas, too, his most recent battle has been with the federal department tasked with protecting those who serve, Veterans Affairs Canada.

For two years, he fought to secure "pain and suffering" benefits after being diagnosed with glioblastoma (GBM), a terminal brain cancer he believes is linked to his deployment to Southwest Asia almost 25 years ago.

"I couldn't stop fighting. I'm a trained lawyer and I had a case and I was like a dog with a bone."

Mayo was part of the military police force at Canada’s base in Germany in the 1980s. (Submitted by Bruce Mayo)

Mayo grew up in a small village in eastern Ontario, destined to follow in the family footsteps.

"When I was 18, my mother drove me to the recruiting centre and said, ‘Go in there. You'll be as free as a bird.' Those were her exact words, and it pretty much worked out."

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