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Life changed dramatically for Bjillian MacKinnon during a summer vacation in Prince Edward Island in 2013.

Then 28, she had a successful career as an early childhood educator and was also an athletics coach in marathon and triathlon.

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“My life was very busy and very happy,” says MacKinnon, “though I slowed down a bit just before my son was born.”

Four months after his birth, she began training for an Ironman triathlon and regularly ran up to 30 kilometres a day.

“I felt in the best of health,” says the Montreal resident. “I had my son and my family. Everything was good.”

Then came the vacation that signalled the end of life as MacKinnon knew it.

“I was still running up to 30 km a day,” she says. “But, by mid-week, I was having trouble even running a third of that because of fatigue, pain and stiffness. By the end of the week, I could barely sit up straight because I had such excruciating pain in my chest and spine.”