2024 Impact Report

BC Cancer Foundation

Opening Remarks

MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

Less than two years into our Beyond Belief campaign, your steadfast support continues to break records. An unprecedented 279,620 donations helped drive a total revenue of $85 million — our highest ever at the BC Cancer Foundation.

Thanks to your generosity, this year has also been full of more milestones in increasing access to cancer research and care across the province than during my entire eight years at the Foundation.

It was an absolute privilege to stand in front of the communities fuelling this progress to announce not one, but four new BC Cancer centres. A second centre in Surrey officially broke ground and new cancer centres in Kamloops, Burnaby and Nanaimo are one step closer to serving patients in their growing communities.

BC Cancer – Kelowna’s capacity to deliver life-saving drug treatments will increase by 40% thanks to our Interior donor community’s dedication to championing a new state-of-the-art Systemic Therapy Suite.

Your generosity is also enabling the first fully donor-funded building to home crucial supportive care services, such as patient & family counselling and psychiatry, in a separate, healing space adjacent to the existing BC Cancer – Victoria facilities.

Advances in testing and treatment made possible by your support are easing the burden on remote communities and the entire cancer system. These include: a province-wide roll out offering the choice to self-test for the human papillomavirus (HPV), the leading cause of cervical cancer; and a cutting-edge clinical trial aiming to change the standard of care for curative prostate cancer from up to eight weeks of traditional daily radiation treatments to just two doses of high-precision radiotherapy.

Donor-fuelled acquisition of state-of-the-art technology is accelerating groundbreaking research in lung and lymphoid cancers and radiotherapy — including theranostics, a cutting-edge combination of therapeutics and diagnostics using one drug to identify cancer and a second to deliver treatment. And your generous support of BC Cancer’s liver and lung cancer research is changing the global understanding of these diseases.

Unfortunately, cancer affects us all. But thanks to your ongoing commitment to the people, projects and programs in this report, there is hope. On behalf of every family facing cancer in B.C., thank you.

Sarah Roth,
President & CEO,
BC Cancer Foundation

MESSAGE FROM THE BOARD CHAIR

The incredible, unparalleled $85 million in revenue we have achieved this year, along with the scope of cancer care and research it supports across the province, is truly staggering. It is testament to your passion and support.

In this report, we share many inspiring stories from the past year about the impact we are making together. This message also serves as my “farewell” as board chair as my term ended in early June.

First, it is my pleasure to welcome Miranda Lam as incoming chair. Miranda is a leader in the business community, who previously served as the chair of our Beyond Belief Campaign Cabinet, ably leading the most ambitious and comprehensive health campaign in B.C. history towards our $500 million goal.

Next, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the recent announcement of the new BC Cancer – Burnaby McCarthy Centre, which is the culmination of my family’s partnership with the BC Cancer Foundation, and the realization of a dream 50 years in the making, dating back to my great grandfather.

The new Burnaby centre, along with the new Surrey, Kamloops and Nanaimo centres and supportive care pavilion in Victoria, will leave an indelible mark on how donor support increases access to cancer care for everyone in the province. These projects are a giant leap towards our goal of comprehensive cancer control with care close to home, by expanding into different regions across B.C. — and I am humbled to see these goals achieved in my time as board chair.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to the entire BC Cancer community. To my fellow directors on our truly outstanding board, the incredible BC Cancer Foundation team, our brilliant staff at BC Cancer, our volunteers, and dedicated donors — and most of all to the patients receiving care and the families supporting loved ones through a cancer journey — I do not have the words to express the honour it has been working alongside you. The opportunity to serve this cause has been the privilege of a lifetime.

As we reflect on an incredible 2024, we do so as a community that has never been stronger. I believe the future of cancer control in our province is in our hands — and I have no doubt we will continue to rise to the challenge. I can’t wait to see what we accomplish next.

John McCarthy,
Board Chair,
BC Cancer Foundation

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024

As the fundraising partner of BC Cancer and the largest funder of cancer research and care in the province, the BC Cancer Foundation, along with you, our community of donors, have continued to create incredible momentum this past year. Together we are advancing innovation, accelerating access to cutting-edge care and activating our world-class BC Cancer experts to improve outcomes for all British Columbians.

Our incredible $85 million in revenue this year will fuel new breakthroughs and life-saving treatment closer to home for patients across all regions of B.C. With your support, life beyond cancer is within reach.

Fundraising: $53.7 million – represents all donations received as a result of annual fundraising programs, major gifts and bequests.
Investment and Other Income: $23 million – includes interest, dividends and realized gains on investments.
Charitable Events: $8.3 million – represents revenues generated primarily from mass participation events.

*The financial highlights on this page are based on BC Cancer Foundation’s audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2024

Your Support is Beyond Belief

In the Fall of 2022, we launched the most ambitious and comprehensive health campaign in B.C. history to raise $500 million to transform cancer research and care across the province.

We called it Beyond Belief because that’s where we aimed to go — beyond what anyone thought possible. We asked you to join us in activating our world-class experts to advance innovation and accelerate access to care for every British Columbian facing cancer.

You not only rose to the challenge, you far exceeded our expectations in a collective effort that demonstrates the profound impact we can achieve together. Thanks to you, we’re closer to our goal than we could have imagined — and more inspired than ever to continue to push towards a world in which this disease is rendered powerless.

"Beyond Belief isn’t just a fundraising campaign, it’s a rallying cry to ensure we have the people, technology and infrastructure in place to meet the increasing demand for everyone in the province. Galvanizing our communities to get involved, fundraise, donate and activate their networks to fuel progress in a disease that affects us all. If we work together, we can build a future, if not completely free from cancer, then free from the fear of cancer."

Sarah Roth

CEO, BC Cancer Foundation

Innovation Advanced

B.C.’s North Leads World-Impacting Radiation Research

Ten years ago it would have been unimaginable that large-scale international clinical trials could be run out of Prince George. But today, access to cutting-edge radiation research is a reality for patients in the North — thanks to donor support.

Dr. Rob Olson, research lead, radiation oncologist and executive medical director at BC Cancer – Prince George, is building on his innovative research showing stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) — high doses of precision-focused radiation over less treatments — is effective in controlling cancer spread, while also reducing toxic side effects, with his next clinical trial, SIMPLIFY.

The trial, fuelled by a $2.2 million BC Cancer Foundation campaign, will test the use of a single dose of SABR on metastatic patients across several cancer types. Led from Prince George, the trial will be available at all six BC Cancer centres (and a growing number of international sites), ensuring patients across the province have the opportunity to participate.

Local philanthropist and owner of Prince George’s Canadian Tire, Selen Alpay and his wife Anita generously donated $500,000 in support.

Many of us have had loved ones treated at BC Cancer – Prince George and know the importance of the work done in the centre,” says Selen. “I’m proud to be able to give back, knowing the research they’re conducting here will improve lives in our city and across the world.

Game-Changing Technology For Lymphoid Cancers

Your generous donations have enabled BC Cancer researchers to be among the first in the world to acquire technology that will significantly advance their work to understand lymphoid cancers.

Thanks also in part to the Gayton family’s generous $500,000 gift and the Tour de Cure team Blood, Sweat, and Cures who, captained by BC Cancer’s Drs. Steidl and Scott and BC Cancer Foundation Board Member Alex Blodgett, have raised more than $1.5 million, a new CosMX SMI (Spatial Molecular Imaging) machine is now installed at BC Cancer’s Centre for Lymphoid Cancer (CLC).

CLC Co-Directors Drs. Steidl and Scott are incredibly excited to receive this cutting-edge equipment.

“We used to think of cancer as a high-rise: a sleek, impenetrable tower we could only see from a distance. Spatial imaging technology is like the key to the front door. Effectively allowing us to go inside, and walk through each room and corridor,” explains Dr. Steidl.

The CosMX SMI machine will enable the CLC team to analyze large quantities of samples in more detail, at a much lower cost, enhancing their world-leading research in a group of cancers that are increasing in incidence. It will also inform treatment such as whether or not to recommend immunotherapy, which comes with serious side effects and is not effective for every lymphoma patient.

An accurate diagnosis, which informs the right treatment at the right time, is probably the most important thing we can do for our patients.

Liver Cancer Research Gets a Boost from Biotech

The largest gift in Canadian history to liver cancer research established a unique multi-disciplinary liver cancer program at BC Cancer this year.

Led by BC Cancer Director and Distinguished Scientist Dr. Pamela Hoodless, the initiative — made possible by a generous gift of $1 million from Vancouver-based biotechnology firm Acuitas Therapeutics, Inc. — aims to increase the global understanding of the disease and develop more effective treatments.

The program will expand the liver cancer team and enable experts from research and clinical practice to work together, says Dr. Hoodless. “This collaborative approach has been incredibly successful in cancers such breast and leukemia, and led to breakthroughs that have drastically improved outcomes. By using this model for liver cancer, BC Cancer will be at the forefront of this critically understudied cancer.”

Dr. Hoodless’ team are launching three initial projects looking at how genes are regulated in Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to better understand how the disease progresses. HCC is the most common type of liver cancer, representing 90% of cases in B.C.

One exciting area of liver cancer research is the use of lipid nanoparticles (LNP) – delivery vehicles for therapeutics at the molecular level – in targeting cancerous cells. These nanoparticles play an important role for the team in testing their research on liver organoids and potentially developing new, more effective therapeutic alternatives.

The world leader in the development of LNP delivery technology, Acuitas played a key role in developing a COVID-19 vaccine enabled by their proprietary LNP. The firm has a long history of supporting the BC Cancer Foundation, contributing to ovarian and breast cancer research over the years.

Acuitas’ Chief Legal Officer & Vice President, Business Development Miranda Lam was recently appointed chair of the Foundation’s Board of Directors, following her role chairing the Beyond Belief Campaign Cabinet in which she lent her leadership and expertise to the Foundation’s historic $500 million campaign to transform cancer care and research in B.C.

Philanthropy Establishes BC Cancer as a Leader in Theranostics

Thanks to $3.5 million in community support, construction has begun on a new state-of-the-art cyclotron and radiopharmacy laboratory in Vancouver which will increase access to PET/CT scans — and position B.C. as a global leader in theranostics, a field poised to transform the future of cancer care.

The endeavor will foster collaboration between two esteemed research institutions: BC Cancer and TRIUMF, a dynamic collaboration of 21 Canadian universities, and over 600 staff and students, which form an incubator for excellence in particle and nuclear physics.

The new cyclotron will be homed in TRIUMF’s Institute for Advanced Medical Isotopes (IAMI), a first-of-its-kind-in-Canada nuclear medicine hub which to date has benefited from $18.5 million in Foundation support.

It will be one of just a few facilities in the world capable of producing the specific radioactive atom needed in radiopharmaceuticals — the lifeblood of PET/CT imaging, which help physicians more accurately diagnose and manage disease, and is an effective method for delivering radiation therapy directly to the site of the metastatic cancer while sparing the surrounding healthy tissue.

The new cyclotron will allow BC Cancer to expand its research in theranostics (a combination of therapeutics and diagnostics), which uses one radioactive drug to identify cancer and a second to deliver highly precise treatment — saving time and money and sparing patients harmful side effects, while also showing incredible promise in saving the lives of metastatic patients.

“This is another example of the power of philanthropy to advance both our ability to better diagnose patients and provide precision treatments that improve outcomes. We are so grateful to our donor community for supporting this important technology,” says BC Cancer Foundation President & CEO Sarah Roth.

"We will all deal with cancer, but we’re in this together. One thing we can do is support breakthroughs in research and the compassionate care — and the hope it provides — at BC Cancer."

Sophie Lui

Beyond Belief Campaign Cabinet member

"We will all deal with cancer, but we’re in this together. One thing we can do is support breakthroughs in research and the compassionate care — and the hope it provides — at BC Cancer"

Sophie Lui

Beyond Belief Campaign Cabinet member

Access Accelerated

Community Crucial to Advancing Close-to-Home Care

Over 115 donors in the Interior rallied to surpass a $6.1 million fundraising campaign for a new state-of-the-art Systemic Therapy Suite at BC Cancer – Kelowna in record time — thanks in part to generous donations from several community champions.

Essential to meeting the growing demand for cancer care in the Interior, the new suite will increase BC Cancer – Kelowna’s capacity to deliver drug treatments, including chemotherapy and immunotherapy, by 40%. It will also provide the infrastructure to bring early phase clinical trials to Kelowna for the first time, saving patients in the Interior from having to travel to Vancouver to access this life-saving research.

Vastly improving wait times, with locals receiving treatment almost immediately, the new suite will also feature three new isolation bays to protect immune-compromised patients.

Named the “Marshall Eliuk Systemic Therapy Suite” in recognition of an incredible $1.5 million donation from Alberta-based businessman Marshall Eliuk, fundraising for the new suite was driven by BC Cancer Foundation Beyond Belief Campaign Cabinet members, led by Jill White, Doug Chambers and Clayton Gall, chair of the Interior Transformation Council, who worked tirelessly to raise awareness among their network and peers.

The campaign was announced just over a year ago and originally expected to take two years to complete. Its remarkably accelerated timeline is thanks to the combined effort of over 100 donors, including a $1.5 million gift from the Bannister family. The Honourable Ross Fitzpatrick, O.C., O.B.C. and Linda Fitzpatrick generously donated the final $725,000 to complete the campaign.

“We’re humbled and inspired by the community’s overwhelming support to profoundly change the landscape of cancer care and research in the Interior,” says Sarah Roth, BC Cancer Foundation’s President & CEO.

Making Space for Holistic Cancer Care

Your support is making history in the first fully donor-funded purchase of a BC Cancer building — which will be home to life-saving supportive care services in Victoria.

The landmark $15 million BC Cancer Foundation campaign is fully funding the purchase and renovation of 2340 Richmond Road in Victoria to establish the BC Cancer – Victoria Integrated Care and Research Pavilion and fuelling clinical trials and BC Cancer – Victoria’s Deeley Research Centre.

Located just 250 metres from the existing BC Cancer – Victoria facilities, the new 12,000 foot pavilion will create more space for supportive care services, including Patient & Family Counselling, Psychiatry, and Hereditary Counselling, and allow staff to work seamlessly between the two buildings.

Supportive care services help prevent or manage the adverse side effects of cancer — both physical and psychological — from diagnosis through treatment and into survivorship or palliative care.

Mental health support is a critical part of cancer care, says Dr. Alan Bates, provincial practice leader psychiatry and program medical director Supportive Care at BC Cancer.

“Psychiatrists and counsellors don’t “kill cancer cells” but they help patients get to the appointments where this life-saving work happens and help them tolerate the side effects.”

Research, however, shows that returning to the site of chemotherapy or radiation treatment can be triggering. Relocating supportive care services to a separate space away from the main BC Cancer centre will create a healing environment for patients and their families.

The campaign kicked off with two generous lead gifts, a $500,000 donation from Lynda and Murray Farmer, the campaign’s honourary co-chairs, and a $2.5 million gift from Ernie and Yvonne Yakimovich.

“This is a significant opportunity to help shape the delivery of cancer care and support in our community and throughout Vancouver Island. As a donor, it is empowering to know that our contribution to this important development can be life changing for those facing cancer.”

Lynda and Murray Farmer, O.B.C.s

on their gift to support the BC Cancer – Victoria Integrated Care and Research Pavilion

Lynda and Murray Farmer, O.B.C.s

on their gift to support the BC Cancer – Victoria Integrated Care and Research Pavilion

Creating Culturally Safe Cancer Care

“Call me Mama Crow,” insisted one of Vanessa Prescott’s patients as evidence the BC Cancer – Surrey Indigenous Patient Navigator (IPN) had earned her trust.

A residential school survivor, this was the second time Mama Crow had faced cancer but the first time she felt supported by “the system” thanks to Vanessa and the donor-supported Indigenous Patient Relief Fund.

IPNs at all six BC Cancer centres utilize the fund to help break down unique barriers to care for Indigenous patients such as a mistrust of Westernized health care due to a long history of racism, cultural and language differences and the frequent need to travel from remote communities. These added challenges not only affect quality of life, they lead to historically poorer cancer outcomes for Indigenous patients.

The fund helps cover essentials, and includes grocery cards, travel and accommodation vouchers and treatment-related expenses such as medical supplies, nutritional supplements and traditional medicines. For Mama Crow, it helped cover the cost of gas, a frozen meal delivery service and a blender and smoothie ingredients when her six weeks of treatment put her at risk of requiring a feeding tube.

Vanessa says the Indigenous Patient Relief Fund has been crucial in creating trauma-informed care and in providing patients with cultural and financial essentials not covered by any other health program.

For Mama Crow, the added support buoyed her through treatment that she initially questioned her spirit’s ability to endure. So much so that she felt sad to finish radiation as it meant leaving Vanessa, her BC Cancer family and the other patients who lifted each other up during their time together.

New BC Cancer Centres are on the Way

Critical, close-to-home care is coming to four new communities in B.C. thanks to donor support!

Due to a growing and aging population, demand for cancer treatment is expected to increase by 60% in B.C. over the next decade. This year, four new BC Cancer centres were announced — in various stages of planning or development — to help meet those needs.

A second BC Cancer centre in Surrey broke ground to serve the rapidly growing Fraser region. Located in Cloverdale, the new centre, supported by a $30 million BC Cancer Foundation fundraising campaign, will feature 54 chemotherapy spaces, doubling treatment capacity in the region. Two new scanners will bring PET/CT imaging to the region, saving thousands of patients from having to travel to Vancouver. A new cyclotron will support BC Cancer’s world-class theranostics program and bring revolutionary radiopharmaceutical-based trials to patients in the region.

A new BC Cancer centre in Burnaby is one step closer to fruition, fuelled by an incredible investment of $5 million from the McCarthy family — which brings the Foundation’s fundraising campaign for the new centre to past the halfway mark. In recognition of their long-time dedication to both BC Cancer and Burnaby, the new centre will be named ‘BC Cancer – Burnaby McCarthy Centre.’

With two PET/CT scanners and a dedicated space for clinical trials, it will significantly increase treatment capacity and access to research for patients in B.C.’s third largest city.

Patients in Kamloops and Nanaimo — who currently need to travel up to two hours to Kelowna or Victoria to receive radiation therapy — will soon have access to this life-saving treatment in their community.

In its first year the new BC Cancer centre in Kamloops is projected to support patients with 6,600 radiation consults and follow up appointments and 1,000 patient radiation courses of treatment. Similarly, a new BC Cancer centre in Nanaimo will save 1,000 patients from the second most populated city on the Island from the added cost and inconvenience of travel, accommodation and childcare.

World's Best Activated

Increasing Screening to Erase Cervical Cancer

In January, B.C. was the first province in Canada to establish a new self-test option that is increasing access to life-saving cervical cancer screening.

This giant step towards Canada’s pledge of eliminating cervical cancer by 2040 is an initiative BC Cancer’s Dr. Lily Proctor and her team have been working on for decades — with the help of a donor-funded study looking at underserved populations in the Fraser Valley.

BC Cancer Foundation supported research examining how to increase screening in the South Asian community, who fall well behind the general population, was invaluable to informing a variety of approaches to improve screening coverage, says Dr. Proctor, including the announcement to offer a choice to self-test for the human papillomavirus (HPV), the leading cause of cervical cancer.

HPV is a sexually transmitted virus which 75% of Canadians will contract. Usually, it goes away on its own. Persistent infections, however, can lead to cervical cancer. While a Pap test detects abnormal cells caused by HPV, testing for the virus, before cell changes have occurred, identifies people at risk for cervical cancer earlier and better, says Dr. Proctor.

The Pap test also requires a pelvic exam by a health care provider which can be challenging for patients in remote communities, for people with history of sexual abuse or the LGBTQIA2S+ community who may be uncomfortable undergoing the procedure.

“By making testing more accessible, equitable and comfortable, we can increase coverage in people who have never been screened or who are under screened by up to 20%.”

This translates to almost weekly reports from patients who didn’t have a family doctor or couldn’t take time off work to get screened, says Dr. Proctor. “They received a prepaid envelope with a test they did in two minutes. As a result, they found an early cancer, are having surgery and are being cured.”

AI Transforming Prostate Cancer Care

Research led by BC Cancer – Victoria’s Dr. Abraham Alexander has dramatically improved the standard of care for curative prostate cancer patients from five to eight weeks of daily radiation treatments to just five weekly doses of high-precision stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR).

SABR safely delivers higher doses of radiation directly to the tumour site while limiting radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissues, resulting in fewer side effects.

Eliminating the physical, financial and emotional toll of travelling to Victoria five days a week for up to two months is game changing, says Dr. Alexander. “Patients from up Island don’t have to stay in Victoria anymore. They can come down, receive treatment, go home and come back the following week.”

Now, thanks to a donor-fuelled $500,000 fundraising campaign, Dr. Alexander and BC Cancer – Surrey’s Dr. Winkle Kwan are looking to move the needle even further with ADAPT-25, a cutting-edge clinical trial that — with the help of AI — will test the efficacy of just two doses of SABR on curative prostate cancer patients.

The custom AI algorithm will help target radiation even more precisely, allowing technicians to adapt the treatment each day to match daily changes in the body.

In addition to saving patients time away from family, and the added stress and financial strains of travel and accommodation, this groundbreaking work to decrease the number of radiation visits per patient will help create more timely access to treatment for other individuals in B.C. facing prostate cancer.

Innovative Early Lung Cancer Detection is Saving Lives

Two years ago, your generous support — of nearly $2 million in equipment and start-up funds — helped BC Cancer establish Canada’s first province-wide lung cancer screening program. Led by Drs. Stephen Lam and Renelle Myers, the program has achieved enormous success — resulting in more than 140 confirmed cancers.

“All of these cancers were found in people who do not have symptoms. Approximately 74% identified are in early Stage 1 or 2. Only 8% are in Stage 4, compared to the almost 50% we would see in clinically diagnosed lung cancer cases,” says Dr. Lam.

This is incredible considering the five-year survival rate for the disease is 62% in Stage 1 but drops to just 3% in Stage 4 after the cancer has metastasized.

Globally recognized for their work, Drs. Lam and Myers are focusing on several other innovative projects to further advance early detection of lung cancer, when it’s highly treatable. Their research discovered that lifetime exposure to air pollution, specifically a fine particle called PM2.5, could be attributing to an increased lung cancer risk, specifically in women of Asian ethnicity.

“There’s an urgent need to create a risk-prediction tool to identify the people who don’t use tobacco yet are at increased risk,” says Dr. Myers, whose team is developing a novel breath test that is harnessing AI (artificial intelligence) to help reach a more diverse population.

The test identifies chemical signatures in breath to help detect early lung cancer and understand how changes in the lung microbiome may indicate lung cancer development in never smokers.

Essential in meeting the demands of this and other studies is the GC Orbitrap Exploris. The state-of-the-art technology is a “work horse to study exhaled breath chemicals,” says Dr. Myers, and thanks to $500,000 in donor support it was recently installed in the Breathomics Lab, aiding BC Cancer in their life-saving work examining how the environment affects lung health.

Gratitude & Remembrance

Dr. Connie Eaves: a World-Renowned and Highly Decorated Pioneer in Cancer Research

The unequalled number of awards and accolades Dr. Connie Eaves accrued during her 50-year career at BC Cancer include the Order of Canada, a Gairdner Wightman Award and an induction into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.

Published in more than 550 academic papers and the holder of eight patents, she was a UBC scholar and professor, distinguished scientist, devoted mentor, and inspiration to women pursuing a career in science.

As a founding member of BC Cancer’s initial research program in 1973, and co-founder of BC Cancer’s Terry Fox Laboratory in the early ’80s, few have made a bigger impact in hematopoietic, mammary and cancer stem cell biology. Her research in breast cancer and leukemia has translated into effective therapies that are now the gold standard in cancer care worldwide.

Her greatest gift to the scientific community, however — and in which her legacy lives on — is the hundreds of graduate students and postdoctoral trainees she mentored. Affectionately referring to them as her “children, but with a much shorter rearing time,” she was a self-proclaimed “great-great-great grandmother” to many prolific researchers and scientific leaders who have now made their own impactful contributions to health care and biotechnology.

In December, just three months before her passing, the BC Cancer Foundation was privileged to have recognized Dr. Eaves, and her husband Dr. Allen Eaves, in the unveiling of the newly named Eaves Stem Cell Assay Laboratory at BC Cancer’s L.J. Blackmore Cancer Research Centre.

An advanced clinical laboratory supporting BC Cancer’s Leukemia Bone Marrow Transplant Program, and related research initiatives, the lab is home to a dedicated team, many of whom were personally mentored by Dr. Eaves. Inspired by her legacy in scientific excellence and commitment to improving lives through research, they and future generations will continue to drive innovations in cancer treatment.

Remembering an Advocate and an Ally

In March, we lost our dear friend and board of directors member, Shannon Gall. Shannon joined the Foundation after she was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer, and as a never smoker she brought with her a fierce determination to destigmatize the disease and spread awareness that anyone with lungs can get lung cancer.

She and her husband, Clayton, rallied their community to raise more than $1 million in 2020 to help establish B.C.’s province-wide lung cancer screening program.

Generous in sharing her story, her time and her network to advocate for investment in lung cancer research, Shannon had firsthand knowledge of how invaluable the Personalized Onco-Genomics (POG) program at BC Cancer is as it extended her prognosis well beyond the statistical average.

Shannon’s passion for philanthropy and genuine human connection was inspiring. During the five and half years she faced cancer, she was a source of hope and positivity for other lung cancer patients.

A champion in the Kelowna community, Shannon helped us deepen our roots in the Okanagan and brought a meaningful and deeply personal perspective to our cause. We are grateful to have shared our goals with Shannon — and will continue to work towards improving outcomes and increasing access to cancer care in the Interior in her honour.

“This is an incredibly exciting time for cancer research and we’re proud to be among the busiest clinical trials sites in the province. Donor investment will help us expand even further and be at the forefront of the most important areas of research, like immunotherapy.”

Dr. Ross Halperin

BC Cancer – Kelowna’s Executive Medical Director

“This is an incredibly exciting time for cancer research and we’re proud to be among the busiest clinical trials site in the province. Donor investment will help us expand even further and be at the forefront of the most important areas of research, like immunotherapy.”

Dr. Ross Halperin

BC Cancer – Kelowna’s Executive Medical Director

THANK YOU

Your dedicated support has propelled us into a record-breaking year of fundraising and impact.

The strides we’ve made together this year, and the milestones we’ve achieved in increasing access to cancer care across B.C., are beyond anything we could have imagined. Because of you, nothing is impossible — and a world free from cancer is closer than ever before.

Your partnership inspires us and drive us forward. On behalf of the BC Cancer Foundation, thank you for being an integral part of our community.

Learn more about how your support is helping us go beyond belief to change outcomes for cancer patients in B.C. by clicking on the images below.