Canadian Cancer Society has set a goal for Woodstock Relay to hopefully raise $150,000
By Mark Schadenberg
Lots of information will be available at Relay Kickoff on March 1, and often the most important news is answering the question to participants about exactly where the research dollars are directed.
RELAY SUMMIT
If
from the outside you think the formal dinner on a Saturday night of Relay Summit two weeks ago was all about
socializing and the exchange of thoughts from one city to another, you would
only be partially correct.
The
Relay dinner featured two guest speakers, including a young cancer
survivor, who I believe was diagnosed with cancer basically in the same week
she was graduating from high school and thought the entire world was ahead –
university and beyond.
Instead,
Sheena Garcia was enduring chemo-therapy and other treatments as a tumour had
been detected.
Garcia’s
thoughts were summarized by the fact she wanted to thank all volunteers at every
Relay For Life for assisting in finding a cure for cancer as survival rates
continue to improve.
RIOT Team
The
second speaker had everyone’s attention as Dr. Ryan Dowling is a research
specialist at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto and his team is making great
advancements in discovering a cure for breast cancer as they are now in their
third level of clinical trials (testing) with cancer patients (from around the
globe) on the utilization of Metformin as a drug to cure as many as three forms
of cancer.
Metformin
is commonly prescribed already as a drug for Type II Diabetics. Dowling notes
among the important reasons why this discovery would be great news is that
Metformin is now sold as a drug with its patent expired so it’s not expensive.
He added, however, that the flip side to that is that many pharmaceutical
companies don’t like to mass produce it because there is not large profit
possibility.
The
CCS RIOT team is an interesting acronym for Research Information Outreach Team.
In other words, CCS funds the best research projects in Canada and that is what
the CCS often repeats to its donors, but that at the same time the world must
know about all the advancements in cancer research and the updated stats on
survival rates to see that cancer cures can be found. Dowling is an important
outreach person from the microscopes in the labs to the ears in the banquet
halls.
A May RELAY Meeting
In an effort to increase participation levels in 2017, the Woodstock committee for Relay For Life will host an information night on Wednesday, May 3. Springtime is a great time to join the signature fundraiser for CCS nationally, so an open house will be held at the office at 65 Springbank Ave North from 5:30 - 7 p.m.
If you have never attended Relay, call the CCS office anytime for more details as you can also register (for $15) at www.relayforlife.ca/woodstock and begin collecting pledges and donations today.
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