Kelsey Banks, farmer, agronomist and cancer survivor.
Road to recovery
Young brain cancer survivor and agronomist Kelsey Banks tells others not to let challenges end your journey
Nelson Zandbergen
Farmers Forum
OTTAWA — For Kelsey Banks, the fast-paced life of an agronomist and farmer slammed to a halt at the age of 26. A promising career in the fields of Ontario was suddenly upended by a devastating diagnosis: brain cancer.
Banks shared a raw and powerful account of her journey, through treatment and the perspectives she gained in recovery, at the Ottawa Valley Farm Show on March 12.
Before her diagnosis, Banks — daughter of retired OMAFA crop specialist Scott Banks and granddaughter of Kemptville College principal John Curtis — was defined by her drive. Living in Western Ontario at the time, she was deeply immersed in crop consulting and cash cropping, always eager to take on new challenges and expand her expertise. That all took a “180-degree” turn when she learned she had grade 2 astrocytoma, a type of brain tumour, she recounted in front of a large group of farmers.
The immediate impact was a crushing loss of independence. “I remember my neuro-oncologist said, ‘Well, we’re going to have to suspend your license,’” Banks, now 32, recalled. For a professional whose office was the cab of a truck and the middle of a field, having no driver’s licence was a career-altering blow. She lived in rural Drayton at the time.
With a smile, she remembered the doctor’s claim that she could rely on public transit in her rural Wellington County community, in the middle of Mennonite country. “I said, ‘I don’t think so.’
Her life came to a full stop. “It really put my life plans on hold, my career, because I ended up having to go on sick leave.”
She moved back to Eastern Ontario during the COVID-19 pandemic to be closer to family support following her diagnosis.
Banks endured the physical toll of 30 rounds of radiation, six rounds of chemotherapy and brain surgery, but found longer-term recovery the most difficult. She wound up returning to work too soon, taking a role at Embrun Co-op, before realizing she wasn’t the same person anymore. She bowed out of the position at the urging of her oncologist, who noticed she was too tired.
Banks struggled with fatigue as well as cognitive side effects, such as difficulty remembering names and performing mental math, which forced her to redefine her goals. She had to learn to listen to her body, eventually finding a balance between her passion for agriculture and her health needs through meditation, exercise and therapy.
“Recovery is honestly the hardest part of it all because you’re having to accept the challenge that you have gone through, and then you have to try and control your anxiety … and do your best to calm those thoughts,” she said.
Last month marked five years of cancer remission. Her journey has included becoming a mother as she and husband Billy DeJong welcomed a son born in 2024.
The Morrisburg resident currently share-crops at three Ontario farm properties, in Dufferin, Renfrew and Dundas counties. In 2025, she established her own independent agronomy consultancy, Banks Agro, specializing in digital agronomy support.
Banks emphasized that even years after treatment, the exhaustion remains: “I may look great, but I’m tired … there’s days where I take the morning off and have a nap,” she said, counting that option as a major benefit of being her own boss.
Furthermore, the financial burden of being a cancer survivor remains a long-term challenge as Banks noted that life and critical illness insurance costs remain “holy cannoli” expensive for survivors because they are viewed as higher risks.
When asked from the floor if she feared a recurrence of the cancer, she candidly responded: “100 %.” She copes in part by being “very grateful for every day when I wake up,” she said.
Her message to the next generation of agricultural leaders was one of grounded optimism and resilience: challenges will come, and while they may alter your perspective, they do not have to end your journey. “Your goals matter, and you can do it,” she concluded.
