OrganizationCommunity
Goaltender
Retreat Yourself
YACC Expeditions
Survivor Conference
We Get It
Localife
The Climb
Shave for the Brave
Touch Yourself,
Trust Yourself
Home
» Delayed Diagnosis
» Disintrajectorization
» Isolation
» Fertility
» Independence
» Relationships
» Survivorship
Order (free!)
2nd Annual ball hockey tourney
On Saturday, September 26, young adult cancer supporter and this organization's buddy, Lisa Belanger, along with her friend Desi Fuhr, put off the 2nd Annual Young Adult Cancer Survivors (YACS) Ball Hockey Tournament in support of young adults with cancer.
The event was held at a community rink outside Edmonton, AB and was super fun with six teams and some tasty BBQ. With ast year's tourney under their belts, YACS learned a lot from the experience and ramped up the excitement and doubled the participation for round two. An AWESOME $900+ was raised at the event and they expect next year to be even bigger and better!
All proceeds were donated to Young Adult Cancer Canada's (YACC) Retreat Yourself West initiative which was held this year for the first time outside Vancouver, BC from September 3-September 7, 2009. This was the first year YACC was able to provide two Retreats, East and West, and Lisa's participation was one of the reasons we did this!
On behalf of all of us here at Young Adult Cancer Canada, I'd like to send a shout out to Lisa and her awesome group for supporting young adults with this tourney. You've got such initiative and we really appreciate all your hard work.
Posted on Oct 21, 2009 - 12:43 PM
A friend shares her connection
Cathy Murphy is one of our loyal supporters from TD Canada Trust. Knowing that people usually have a strong connection to the causes they support, I asked Cathy where her connection to Young Adult Cancer Canada originated. Here is what she said:
For me, I am very much connected to cancer, having lost a very precious sister to the “C” word. I knew I always wanted to be up close and personal, and involved in the cause but hadn’t found the group that I wanted to devote my time and energy to, so here’s how I became involved with Young Adult Cancer Canada.
I have an 18-year old son, Chad, who had to write a paper in the seventh grade about a guest he would invite to Thanksgiving Dinner, living or dead.
Initially, he wanted to invite a hockey player. I suggested he research and try to find a local hero. He picked Geoff Eaton (who is also a huge hockey fan). The paper was wonderful, very heartwarming, and he got top marks. From that moment, I always felt connected to Geoff even though I had never met him.
Some years later in 2006, Geoff had a friend who works for TD Canada Trust in PEI, and he had asked his friend to help him look for some sponsorship from TD Canada Trust on a local level. An email came in to the Newfoundland TD Canada Trust team to see if one of us could connect with Geoff. Well, within two minutes I answered the email to offer my services both from an individual perspective, and as well as working on their behalf to get some support at the corporate level. I then went to my peers to get as many of them involved as possible. Carson Chafe, another TD Canada Trust manager, also jumped on board.
Our TD Canada Trust Team have been extremely successful in building support for YACC, in particular with their annual golf tournaments and, most recently, for the 2009 Shave for the Brave event. I truly love my connection and relationship with YACC. It also makes me proud to know that my employer has supported what’s important to me. My son is now also a volunteer for YACC, and I know this has made him a much better human being. I so respect Geoff Eaton’s desire to take his illness and use it to devote the rest of his life to raising awareness and helping young Canadians deal with this dreaded disease that touches so many.
I would like to end with this quote: “Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves” (James Matthew Barrie, Author of Peter Pan). I know this is true in my case, and I truly see it works for Geoff Eaton. It’s amazing to watch his passion for this cause!
Posted on Oct 14, 2009 - 12:32 PM
Running for a cure
This past Sunday (October 4), I was one of the many thousands of individuals who participated in the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's Run for the Cure. Like so many others, I have a personal connection to the cause as my mother is a breast cancer survivor. I am proud to report that my mother is an example of how early detection can really change outcomes. She found her cancer early, had surgery and chemotherapy and, three years later, is doing great largely due to her early detection and her wonderfully positive attitude.
The run brought a number of different worlds together for me, with my family connection being just one of them. One of the speakers was a 32-year old breast cancer survivor who talked about her own battle and how she felt a lack of connection with her same age peers as they were not dealing with chemotherapy, hair loss, and the many other issues that cancer presents. This perspective mirrors what I have learned since I started here at Young Adult Cancer Canada, specifically how the cancer experience is so different for young adults, and isolation is prominent. So despite the type of cancer, for many young adults, the feelings are definitely the same.
I found it very inspirational and moving to see the answers to the question "Who are you running for?" pinned to everyone's jackets and sweatshirts (it was cold!). They ranged from the very personal (i.e. my mother, my sister, my daughter, myself or a specific person's name) to the generic, yet no less powerful (i.e. you, women everywhere). It really shows that everyone has a story; some are sad, some are happy, but the feeling of love and support present were undeniable.
Posted on Oct 09, 2009 - 12:55 PM
Cancer is preventable, treatable, curable
I mentioned in my previous blog that the Go Public conference got me thinking. Here are some of my thoughts.
Preventable: How can we prevent the cancers that are preventable?
Eating healthy food, exercising regularly, reducing our level of stress, avoiding cigarettes and alcohol, plus a long list of environmental factors over which we don't always have control. Anything new here? We (society, individual, world) all seem to know what to do, but don't always do it. What's up with that? Not sure exactly. Part of what public health focus on is to understand behaviors in order to change them. We could ban everything that is bad for us, but I am not sure this would automatically make us adopt healthier lifestyles. It seems everything can give us cancer, so where should we put our priorities, and what should we focus on if we want to take part in the change? Who should we put pressure on?
Have a clear message and empower people
One of the conclusions of this Go Public Forum was that the cancer world needs to create a movement; it needs its own Greenpeace activist group to be in the face of the right people, to create waves, and to channel the anger of the general population. Great idea, but who can do it? Most participants at the conference seem to think the younger people (12-30ish) were the ones with the power. As mentioned by Steve Hildebrand, the generation of the ongoing conversation (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, email, messenger, text messages, etc.) should be in charge.
Okay, let's say we buy into this, then we also need to be coherent. For a generation to be strong and influential, it needs to be healthy. I agree with the idea that young people can make a difference, and I believe that young adult cancer survivors can have an even bigger impact if we give them the opportunity.
To me, that just reinforces the need to put some focus on the young adult population. All of them who are living with cancer need proper care, sufficient and relevant support, access to clinical trials, they also need to be heard when they go see a doctor and say something is wrong, they need attention if they want to be part of the big mission to control cancer.
Hildebrand said we will solve problems best if we do it together. I completely agree with that statement. In other words, the power resides in the community and starts within ourselves. I am not sure where we need to start and what we need to do. Does writing this count?
Posted on Oct 02, 2009 - 12:19 PM
Go public!
From September 23-26, 2009 I attended the Go Public Global Leadership Forum for Cancer Control in Ottawa. Canada’s Campaign to Control Cancer, together with its international Steering Committee, issued a global call to action: the urgent need to "Go Public" when it comes to cancer. They felt the time was right to create a new social climate about cancer control: one that engages the public in support of a new global response to cancer. A big mandate for a three-day meeting, but I have to say I left with more knowledge than I came with, which is not always a guarantee when you attend a conference.
Powerful speakers
I got to attend interesting workshops, but mostly, I got to listen to inspiring speakers. People like Steve Hildebrand, Deputy Campaign Manager of the Barack Obama Presidential Campaign; Wendy Mesley, Cancer survivor and Award-Winning Broadcast Journalist for CBC; and Stephen Lewis, Professor in Global Health and Former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa; just to name a few, shared their thoughts on cancer control. One thing that came out of the various speeches is that cancer is preventable in a high percentage (they were not clear on the exact percentage though: 40 per cent, 60 per cent, 95 per cent). To me, the important message here is "preventable." I have more to say about this, so check my next blog.
Network
Of course conferences like that also provide us with the opportunity to network and also learn from our colleagues and supporters. I was invited to do a presentation about YACC. My co-presenter was Pat Taylor, mother of Sara Taylor, a young adult with cancer who passed away in 2000 after working on significant projects with her mom to help raise awareness surrounding young adults with cancer. Pat presented a short portion of her movie Chasing Rainbows: Young Adults Living With Cancer which talks about issues young adults face.
We then discussed with the participants about the young adult reality and what we can do to change it. These exchanges reinforce our partnership with people everywhere who have been affected by cancer. These individuals give us energy and new ideas as we move forward.
I will stay tuned to any new developments of Go Public, but I feel the noise made by cancer fighters will be much louder in the coming years and it’s well overdo.
Posted on Oct 02, 2009 - 12:03 PM