Fundraising
ROGER STEERS
I’ve done gran fondos before, but the Ride to Conquer Cancer attracts such a broad range of people. I love watching the later riders come in; you see them cross the line and collapse in tears. It’s an incredibly emotional event. And because there’s the fundraising component – the $2,500 – for some people, they have to go out and work hard to meet their goal.
MARIE-HÉLÈNE LARAMÉE
Director of corporate sponsorship sat montreal’ s jewish General hospital foundation. laramée is a survivor of melanoma with vascular invasion. The money raised from the ride is not used for our operations; it’s used for innovation. We were able to be first in North America, for example, to bring in a machine to operate on prostate cancer patients. It’s called hifu, high-intensity focused ultrasound, and this machine allows us to operate on prostate cancer patients without removing the prostate or its functionality. It’s life changing for a patient.
DR. JAIME ESCALLON
Doctor in the division of general surgery at princess Margaret cancer centre, co-ordinator of breast surgery and breast centre of excellence with the university health Network. es call on beat thyroid cancer. Patients end up sponsoring us very often and we end up riding together with some of them, which is an interesting experience because then we’re kind of at the same level. We’re all tired, pedalling, and we are giving support to each other on a different level.
PAUL ALOFS
We report back on the use of proceeds. When we tell people that personalized cancer medication has been advanced for all Canadians, that cancer immunotherapy has been funded and is impacting all Canadians as well as cancer patients worldwide, we can point to the use of proceeds stories. We also bring in large teams all winter long for two-to-three hour sessions where they meet our doctors who are using the money. People not only want a great ride and great event, but they also want to know that the awesome amount of money they’re raising is being put to great use, so that connection is important. Then we have docs, surgeons, radiation oncologists and PHD researchers who do the ride too, so chances are you’re never more than four or five riders away from someone who’s working at Princess Margaret and using the money.