Hi guys,
The paddler's pledge drive is open again benefiting the BC Cancer Foundation as part of the Victoria Dragon Boat Festival.
Since 2008 the paddlers pledges, Lights of Courage campaign and other fundraising drives around the festival have raised $565,276.43 for cancer care and research here in BC.
This years funds will go to kick off immunotherapy trials here in BC within the next 2 years which will hopefully improve survival in a few types of cancer that typically don't do well with standard treatments. The first step is building a clean room where we can process a patient's immune cells that will be removed from their tumour following surgery, the ones that recognize the tumour will be grown up and reinfused back into the patient, allowing their own immune system to fight against recurrences. It's a strategy that has really been taking off in recent years and we're hoping to start with ovarian and cervical cancers and move forward from there (disclaimer - I'm not just a paddler/coach/fundraiser, I'm also a researcher with the BC Cancer Agency).
If you would like to get your team on board, please go here to start a team page:
http://donate.bccancerfoundation.com/site/TR/Events/TR/Events/ResponsiveTR?fr_id=2700&pg=entryIt's extremely easy, you can email people with the link or put it on your facebook page. Everyone is affected by cancer and you may find it's a lot easier to raise funds than you think.
Plus, the past couple years, the team prize for top team has been free entry into the Victoria festival with other participating teams going in to a 50% draw (hopefully that's the case again this year)!
As this fundraising effort affects trials that will be run between Victoria and Vancouver, it won't just affect people on the island.
Please consider getting your team on board, the more people we have, the sooner we can get the funds raised and the sooner we can get these trials kicked off and hopefully move some survival curves that haven't budged in a few years now.
Even if you don't want to fundraise yourself, please consider going to the site to support one of the teams that does or buy a lantern when Lights of Courage kicks off. It's a worthwhile investment in the future of care and research here in BC!
