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Donate to advance cancer research

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness month in Canada, an important fundraising time for the Canadian Cancer Society, who continue to spread awareness and raise money to combat the disease.

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Breast cancer is something that hits close to home for me. When I was just starting elementary school, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through chemotherapy. Being only six at the time, I didn’t fully understand what was happening but knew enough to know it was pretty serious.

She was diagnosed in August 2000 and went through eight sessions of chemo, 21 days apart, and then 21 treatments of radiation.

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I remember the day her hair started falling out. I remember when my dad and grandmother took my brother and I to visit her in the hospital.

She was in treatment for about a year then underwent surgery to remove the infected tissue. It took 10 years of annual check ups and tests before they officially gave her a clean bill of health.

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If it wasn’t for the advancements we’ve made over the years, all the research that’s been conducted, she may not have pulled through. I can’t imagine what my life would be right now without her.

Others aren’t so lucky; every year people lose family members to cancer. It’s not just women either, men are affected by it as well. Male breast cancer is rare, less than one per cent of all breast cancer diagnosis. Every year in Canada, around 220 men will be diagnosed, and 60 will die from the disease. That’s three out of every 11.

There’s still so much that needs to be uncovered, new treatment options that could help. According to the Canadian Cancer Society, one in eight Canadian women are expected to be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.

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My mother was able to be part of trial for a new drug that has since become standard treatment. A prime example of fundraising dollars at work.

In the last 20 years, more than $360 million has been invested in breast cancer research by the Canadian Cancer Society and the former Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation combined.

What’s really remarkable, is the death rate has dropped by 44 per cent since the 1980s. Can you imagine what it will be like in another 20 years if we keep this up?

As of 2017, the five-year survival rate is around 87 per cent, largely due to research that has improved early detection, diagnosis and treatment.

The month of October has a number of volunteer and fundraising initiatives, most notably of course is the CIBC Run for the Cure.

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This annual event is probably the most well known fundraising event for breast cancer in Canada. It began in 1992 in Toronto High Park with 1,500 people raising awareness and $85,000 for breast cancer research.

Now, nearly 30 years later, the run has roughly 80,000 participants and raises $16 million across Canada.

There are seven fundraising runs in Alberta: Edmonton, Calgary, Fort McMurray, Grand Prairie, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat and Red Deer.

I encourage people to participate in these runs or make donations to those who are. In 2018, Canada had a population around 37 million. If everyone donated a dollar, that would make all the difference in the world.

Cancer’s unpredictable. You may not think any of this applies to you, until suddenly one day it does.

tbrandell@postmedia.com

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