Our Cancer Campaign aims to make cancer everyone’s cause in Durham Region

"When you realize no one can escape cancer it comes as no surprise why cancer should be our cause." - Paul Mackie Sr.

One in every two Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. For many Durham Region residents, this means their sibling, mother, father, child, neighbour, colleague or even themselves, will hear the words “you have cancer”.
 
Simply put, cancer affects everyone and it’s the aim of Lakeridge Health Foundation’s new $20 million Our Cancer Campaign to have an effect on each and every resident, business and community group in Durham Region.
 
“When I got cancer, it consumed my family, it became our cancer,” recalls Miriam Mohamed, a patient of the R.S. McLaughlin Durham Regional Cancer Centre (DRCC) in Oshawa. “My family came to all of my appointments whenever possible. My oncologists, nurses, radiation therapists, lab technicians
– the entire care team – were there for me every step of the way. I was completely surrounded by people who cared about me and my health. That helped me focus on fighting my cancer. I’m alive today because of Lakeridge Health and my family and I am forever grateful.”
 
Lakeridge Health is home to one of the top cancer centres in all of Ontario. The DRCC opened in 2007, thanks to   a remarkable $42.5 million in donations from the community. It provides comprehensive cancer care and research, close to home, alongside many departments throughout Lakeridge Health.
 
Today, Lakeridge Health Foundation is working with the community once again on an ambitious
$20 million fundraising campaign to support not just the needs of the DRCC, but the entire patient journey across all departments of the Oshawa Hospital.
 
The demand for such cancer services in the Durham Region community is growing exponentially. As one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in Canada, Durham Region will double in size in the next 20 years. While the community houses only one percent of the country’s population, its residents make up three percent of national cancer cases. Approximately 7,000 new cancer patients came to Lakeridge Health for cancer care last year alone and alarming projections show that cancer cases  will increase by approximately 58% by 2041, creating an unprecedented demand for cancer services.
 
“Lakeridge Health saved my life more than once – as a child and again recently as a cancer patient,” said Paul Mackie Sr., one of the Campaign’s Co-Chairs.
 
“I have a deep personal connection to this Hospital. Like others, my cancer diagnosis had an effect on my entire family. It wasn’t about just me, but how cancer was going to change the course of our lives,” said Paul.
 
“Hope was a powerful thing for us, but you learn quickly that hope alone can’t fight cancer.  Hospital experts rely on technology and research funded by donors in the community to diagnose and   treat this disease. When you realize no one can escape cancer it comes as no surprise why cancer should be our cause.”