Cancer Champions Breakfast raises $475,000 for local clinical trials, research and Cancer Coaching

Each year, the Cancer Champions Breakfast provides an opportunity for guests to network with leading doctors, researchers and wellness professionals in our region to discuss their work and discover what is up and coming in cancer care. Because the event is also a fundraiser for life-saving local clinical trials and research and for the Cancer Foundation’s Cancer Coaching programs, our guests also hear the stories of people in our community who have been touched by cancer and who are directly impacted by these projects.

People like Brandon Fong, a young cancer survivor and the first speaker of Wednesday morning’s Breakfast. Brandon was diagnosed with a brain tumour at just 26 years old, but says his struggle with uncertainty, long-term side effects, and mental health challenges after treatment were more difficult to cope with than the cancer itself. “I was a completely different person when I finished treatment, and I didn’t know what to do to move forward in life,” he said. “The Cancer Coaches at the Cancer Foundation changed my life. They helped me create a plan to address everything I was going through and overcome it.”

Next, Lucy Van Oldenbarneveld took a moment away from CBC news to tell the story of her own cancer journey, as well as the loss she has endured along the way when her sister passed away in October. “These ever changing and new drugs didn’t work for my sister, Tracy, but they DO work…and they will change other women’s lives,” she said. “Research gives me so much hope, and seeing over 500 of you here and ready to help this morning gives me hope as well.”

Closing out the morning’s speakers was Dr. Rebecca Auer, the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute’s Director of Cancer Therapeutics and a leading surgical oncologist and researcher. “I will never give up on my research, because I truly believe that by the end of my career, there will be a much better way of treating cancer,” she said, citing the reality of the difficult cases she sees every Tuesday during her surgeries. “Being part of a translational cancer research team and seeing clinical trials make scientific advances become miracles gives me hope to persevere. I do cancer research because it is the only way I can get through Tuesdays.”

I am incredibly thankful to Brandon, Lucy and Dr. Auer for having the courage and strength to share their stories with us, and to inspire the 500+ guests in attendance to make a difference.

And I am proud to share that with an amazing $50,000 gift match from the Wesley M. Nicol Foundation, guests of the 2019 Cancer Champions Breakfast contributed more than $475,000 to local clinical trials, research and Cancer Coaching in just one morning.

To our leadership team, table captains, guests and sponsors: THANK YOU for joining us for breakfast to change the lives of local families facing cancer. To Gregory Sanders, Chair of the Cancer Champions Breakfast for the past eight years, we are in awe of your leadership, passion, and commitment to creating a future without cancer. Merci.

2019 marks ten years that the Cancer Champions Breakfast has been igniting hope in some of the most challenging of circumstances. And, in just ten years, that hope has transformed the way we treat and care for people who are facing cancer. It has been incredible to witness the changes our healthcare system has undergone during this time – changes that YOU have helped drive.

At the very first Cancer Champions Breakfast in 2009, speakers highlighted oncolytic virus therapy as a promising new area of local research. Today, more than 130 patients here in Ottawa are currently part of oncolytic virus clinical trials. Ten years ago, the Cancer Foundation’s Maplesoft Centre had yet to be built. Cancer Coaching did not exist. Today, hundreds of families each year meet with a Cancer Coach to get the support and resources they need to navigate each stage of their cancer journey. These are just two examples of the ways our Breakfast supporters have helped spark hope in the lives of cancer patients and their families – but there are so many more.

Should you wish to learn more about how cancer care is changing and how you can be a part of this transformation, I invite you to reach out – by phone, by email, by LinkedIn message, or in person.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Linda