For these CFL fans, the Grey Cup is more than just a football game

The last time Ottawa hosted the Grey Cup, theToronto Argonauts took on the B.C. Lions at what was then Frank Clair Stadium.

After a rocking performance by The Tragically Hip, Toronto defeated B.C.27-19 in front of more than 50,000 fans.

But Arlene Mongovius wasn't one of them.

The Saskatoon native had been diagnosed with breast cancer and couldn't make it out to the 2004 game to cheer on the Argos, her favourite team.

Instead, her sister Lesley-AnneGoughwent and put together a "We Missed You" scrapbook, filled with notes of encouragement and photos from coaches and other superfans like her.

More than a decade after that diagnosis, Mongovius isin Ottawa this weekend to see her beloved Argonauts take on the Calgary Stampeders in Sunday's big game.

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"I just can't believe I'm here. I never thought I was going to make it to six months and here I am 13 years later and I'm here at the Grey Cup," said Mongovius,decked out in Saskatchewan Roughriders gear, Friday night at TD Place.

Thank God that I'm a survivor [and] I'm able to do this kind of activity.- Arlene Mongovius, cancer survivor and Argonauts fan

Mongovius said she'sbeen going to Grey Cup games since 1991 and often meets the same football fans each year. It's thecamaraderie that keeps bringing her back, she said.

"Thank God that I'm a survivor [and] I'm able to do this kind of activity. I get to also meet lots of other survivors that are here," she said.

The CFL hosts campaigns in October to raise money forcancerthrough their "CFL Pink" event, which Mongoviussaid brings women like her together.

There's also an event called "CFLFans Fight Cancer" being heldSaturdayat the Courtyard Marriott in the ByWard Market with a silent auction and raffle prizes. Proceeds from the fundraiser support Ottawa'sMaplesoft Centre, a local facility for cancer patients and their families.

Fourteen years after her diagnosis, Mongoviussaid she doesn't worry about her cancer every day like she used to.

Now, she is ready to take in all of Grey Cup weekend and is cheering for the Argos.

"When this Grey Cup was announced I said, no matter what happens, I gotta get to that Grey Cup and celebrate. Celebrate football, but celebrate living."

A Grey Cup proposal

Vince Rouland Deb Strickland have been dating long-distance ever since they met each other in Ottawa in 2016 for the Redblacks and Stampeders home opener.

But all of that changed Friday night.

Roulasked her to marry him at a pre-Grey Cup "tweetup" at Lansdowne Park

"I said yes," Strickland said with a huge smile.

"The CFL is what brought us together," Roul said. "And it's why I chose to ask [her] today, in the city we met, during Grey Cup."

Roul said he still plans onbeing a Redblacksfan after he moves to Calgary to live with his wife-to-be although Strickland said she'll try to convert him to a Stampeders supporter.