'A hard fight, but I'm ready': Yellowknife's Aaron 'Godson' Hernandez opens up about cancer diagnosis

Yellowknife's Aaron Hernandez is used to being in the public eye.

As the hip-hop artist Godson, he's been performing for nearly 20 years, recording 11 albums, performing all over North America, appearing in commercials and TV shows — including CBC's Dragon's Den and Family Feud Canada — and winning a Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Medal along the way.

Still, he's been taken aback by the response he's received since recently announcing that he's battling cancer. In a Facebook post last week, Hernandez wrote that he's been diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma, Stage 4, and had begun chemotherapy.

The response from supporters has been "overwhelming, crazy insane," he told Hilary Bird, host of the CBC's The Trailbreaker in the N.W.T. 

"It's a whole lot more than I ever, ever, ever would have imagined. So yeah, it's quite humbling, actually," he said.

Hernandez spoke to Bird about his diagnosis, and what the months ahead might look like for him.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Can you bring us back to the beginning of this story and how you first got your diagnosis?

It was a two-month ordeal for for me. Medevac to Edmonton, and waiting for tests, biopsies, results. So that really kept me strong, and weak at the same time, at the hospital because I didn't know what was going on.

Nobody knows when they're gonna get that news. And when you get that news, it's "why me? Well, what did I do?"
But you get that news and then reality kicks in and you're like, "OK, let's do this."

I mean, that two months was a crazy one because you didn't think you would be there in Edmonton or any hospital for two months, waiting for a result.

But you know, it went through the Christmas season and lots of things happened. Couldn't spend Christmas at home, so I had friends, like a good friend, fly my kids up so they could spend time with us — Christmas in Edmonton. So that really helped strengthen my fight.

And here I am back in Yellowknife. Got my first chemo a couple of days ago, and the fight is going.

Most people can't fathom getting a diagnosis like that. How long after that diagnosis did you kind of say, 'OK, here we go, let's be strong. Let's do this'? 

As soon as I got the news, I was hit with it and it didn't feel... it just didn't feel real. Like, everything just stopped. Everything was just kind of was in a blur. It seemed like I was just... everything was numb.

And then when I got that diagnosis, it was, I don't know, it's just like something in my body just woke up and just said, "OK, let's do this." Like, you got no choice, let's go.

Where do you think that comes from?

I think it comes from past experiences. I mean my whole life, you know, starting off young with trying to set up a music career here, and always, you know, having to work even harder to get recognition and stuff.

And not just that, but it was just built in my blood that I have to conquer whatever is put in front of me.

And when the cancer diagnosis came, it's no different. It's not an award, it's not an appearance, it's real life and I gotta do this for me, my family, my kids and the whole community. Like, I put it out there for a reason. I could have just kept it to myself, but this is part of my fighting and healing process.

Can you talk about that, about how that was part of your healing process? 

I had to, for my own well-being. Keeping things in is not going to help me in this fight. Fighting this alone, I can't do it.

So putting it out there, because I know I have a lot of friends and family out there that would be fighting with me, I put it out there and I do have supporters, from years ago, that just came out of the shadows. But they were always there, they just needed something to support — and this is my life and this is what they are supporting, and this is it.

Aaron, were you given any sort of prognosis? Do you know what your chances are here if you do go through treatment?

If there's a cure? Yeah, I mean there's always a chance, and it really all depends on how everything falls into place. But there is a success rate, it is a lower success rate because it is a rare form, and we're already on Stage 4 here, so everything's gonna come fast and furious here.

You have two children. How do you talk to them about all of this?

When they flew to the hospital, I let them know, and you know it hit them pretty hard. They didn't really know what was going on with me.

But you know, now that we're back home and reunited, it's been day-by-day. It's life as usual. We still get them ready for school, we'll make them breakfast, make sure they get their rides to their practices.

And I let them know like, this is going to be fought, guys. Like there's no need to worry. We're going to fight this and we're all a team here. And they're all on board and they're old enough to find that strength to go side by side with me.

Has this experience, this diagnosis, changed your perception of things, of what's important in life?

Absolutely. Like, you don't take things for granted. The touch, the feel, the smell, the taste of things, like, embrace it.

Now that I have cancer, it's really made me more aware of things and how much I want them and how much I am willing to fight, to stay to live this life longer.

What do the next few months look like for you? You said that you've just done your first round of chemo.

Yeah. So I mean, obviously I've never had cancer before, so I don't know what chemotherapy feels like. It's been almost a week now, and it's not a cakewalk, that's for sure.

The amazing thing about going through this chemo and putting this out there, was people messaging me, going through the same thing, giving me advice, telling me what to expect. Especially the survivors, telling me that there is a light and they've fought it.

Just getting all these people I've never talked to before message me and tell me their experiences like really strengthens me, because it gives me the knowledge — because I've never gone through this before.

So the next few months, it's going to be, as far as I'm hearing, it's going to be a hard fight, but I'm ready.

Aaron, you obviously have a lot of fans, a lot of friends here in the Northwest Territories. What do you want them to know right now?

I want them to know that I'm staring out the window looking out at Yellowknife... I'm gonna be here for a long time.

This is a fight that I'm going to win. I don't care what anybody says, and Godson ain't going nowhere.