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Donor Highlights

We are privileged to have the support of thousands of donors each year, ranging from young children baking cookies to raise money for a cancer centre, to corporations sponsoring one of our inspirational events. We are grateful for each and every one of them, and are pleased to share a few highlights from the last year.

Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer

Enbridge

Enbridge has been an outstanding philanthropic partner of the Alberta Cancer Foundation for the past 28 years. One major role has seen Enbridge become the Title Sponsor for The Ride to Conquer Cancer since 2010. Enbridge not only sponsors this event but also encourages employees to participate. In fact, year after year, Team Enbridge is the top fundraising team, with as many as 175 riders participating annually. Over the past eight years, this team has raised more than $4.4 million for the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer and there is no end in sight to the impact they are making possible for cancer patients across the province.

Wayne Foo & Lynne Marshall

Wayne Foo

Wayne Foo and his wife, Lynne Marshall, enjoyed exploring the world together from the seats of their bicycles until Lynne was diagnosed with glioblastoma in January of 2013. Since cycling had been something they had always shared, Wayne joined the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer shortly after to raise funds in honour of his wife. Since that time and thanks to the generous support of his friends and associates, Wayne has personally raised more than $92,300 for glioblastoma research through the Enbridge Ride to Conquer Cancer. His impact doesn’t stop there. After discussing with Lynne on how to do something that would best reflect the care both she and her father received for their glioblastoma treatments—he was diagnosed in 1996—Wayne also established the Lynne Marshall and Wayne Foo Cancer Research Clinical Fellowship at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in hopes of achieving a future free of glioblastoma. After losing Lynne to glioblastoma in February of 2014, he also recently pledged an additional $100,000 towards a matching gift initiative which raised over $240,000 for cancer patients across the province.

Bunny & John Ferguson

John Ferguson

When Bunny Ferguson faced her terminal cancer diagnosis, she didn’t shed one tear. Even when she was given four months to live—a few more with treatment—she confronted the news as she did anything in her life: with determination to live what little time she had left to the fullest.

Bunny and her husband, John, were at their cabin in Jasper in late 2015 when she was having chest pains. She thought she might be having a heart attack. Tests, however, showed her heart was fine but doctors detected a mass on her liver.

“At our first meeting with our oncologist we first heard it was this rare type of cancer and the next thing we heard was that there is no cure,” says John. “Then we heard the prognosis. That was all a big shock.

“Our oncologist, Dr. Karen King, was incredibly wonderful, as was everyone else at the Cross Cancer Institute, but that was a lot to take in.”

Bunny got down to business so she could have that extra time with her family: John, three boys and eight grandchildren. She started chemo the next day.

As indomitable as Bunny always was, it was John who had to be aggressive when the pair first met at Imperial Oil. He was part of a team of Price Waterhouse accountants, auditing the company, when he began looking for excuses to strike up a conversation with executive assistant Bunny. At first, he says, she thought he was too young for her. But once she realized his looks deceived him, the interest became mutual and they went on to marry in July 1966.

They built a formidable life together—they are one of the few Canadian couples to have both received the Order of Canada—as John founded commercial real estate firm Princeton Developments and flourished in the business world. Bunny raised their three boys, volunteered feverishly to causes she was passionate about and was a major support for John. “In our early years, we did our own things—I was off in the world of business and she was running our family or off volunteering and I would come home in the evening and she would say, “Ok, tell me what’s happening in your world,’” says John. “In the more recent years, that changed to where she would sit me down in the evening and say, ‘Ok, here’s what you need to know about what’s going on.”

Her volunteering ranged from involvement in the Ronald McDonald House to the Northern Alberta Women’s Curling Association. In their recent years, the couple raised money for the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation by climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. At 150 metres from the summit, John fell ill with altitude sickness and in a well-told story that illustrates Bunny’s powerful determination, despite worrying about his health, she soldiered to the top of the mountain and met him on the descent where he had recovered.

As mentally and physically strong as she was, it was the moment Bunny realized she would no longer be able to help others that brought her to her knees. When she had to stop chemotherapy because it wasn’t helping anymore was the only time John saw her cry since her diagnosis. “It wasn’t because her body was failing or that she was sad for herself, but it was because she was too tired to volunteer and couldn’t contribute anymore.”

Even after her death at 73 on July 3, 2016, Bunny’s legacy and her family’s generosity has contributed to improving the lives of Albertans facing cancer. In honour of the excellent treatment Bunny received at the Cross Cancer Institute and specifically for the care provided by Dr. Karen King and Dr. Tony Fields, John made a very generous $100,000 gift to the Alberta Cancer Foundation’s Uplift program, which allows donors to name caregivers in appreciation of care received.

“I’ve never been to a hospital where you get such personal attention,” says John. “From the doctors to the nurses to everyone there—they are filled with such empathy, they’re so caring and provide such good care. If this can make a difference and help others facing a cancer diagnosis, it’s worth it.”

 

Calgary Foundation & Edmonton Community Foundation

The Calgary Foundation and Edmonton Community Foundation have been long-time supporters of the Alberta Cancer Foundation with a focus on unique and innovative pilot programs that fill a gap in their respective communities. Most recently, both Foundations made specific donations to the OASIS (Oncology and Sexuality, Intimacy and Survivorship) Programs in Calgary and Edmonton. This program supports people with cancer by helping them learn how to adjust to sexual changes to the body and mind after treatment. It is often difficult to fund these types of programs due to their sensitive topic, but - thanks to $100,000 from the Calgary Foundation and $50,000 from Edmonton Community Foundation, these programs are now in place and easing the cancer journey for patients at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre and the Cross Cancer Institute.

Ron & Cameron Daye

Ron Daye

While it's been more than three years since Cameron Daye died of spindle cell sarcoma at the age of 28, it "feels like yesterday," says Ron Daye, Cameron's father.

Since Cameron's diagnosis in 2012, the Daye family and Ron's company, Rangeland Engineering, have stepped up in full force to raise money for the Alberta Cancer Foundation to help scientists speed up the pace of discovery for the disease.

"When we were faced with a sarcoma diagnosis, we didn't even know it existed," says Ron. "Then you start to learn and end up knowing a whole lot about it.

"Now, we want it to help others and get as far along as we can towards a cure for sarcoma but we know the research will end up helping other cancers, too. We already know one of the things being studied relates to radiation treatment  delivery and that knowledge will apply to all cancers." 

Over the last few years, Ron and Rangeland Engineering have donated a total of $1.8 million to the Alberta Cancer Foundation. They initially committed $1.5 million—$500,000 over three years—to fund the Cameron C. Daye Cancer Research Clinical Fellowship and the Catherine M. Pearson Studentship in Sarcoma Research and followed that investment with countless Rangeland events that have raised an additional $300,000.

"When we turn our efforts on, it's a pretty major effort," says Ron. "Being involved in fundraising like this was also a turning point for Rangeland. It changed our culture a bit and people really got behind us. Now we support numerous charitable and community initiatives at Rangeland.”

Rangeland's golf tournament has become a flagship event and grown every year. Suppliers and clients step up every year with donations to the silent auction and the researchers being supported by the fellowships  have come to speak to golfers, explaining the impact of the donations. "That's been really important - there was an immediate function of our money and people involved with our events can see where the dollars are going," says Ron.

Despite all they have already done and being grateful for all the support the company has received both from staff, suppliers and clients, Ron says there is still so much more to do.

One thing the family is certain of, says Cameron's sister, Jennifer, is how he would have felt. "Absolutely, he would have been proud."

Charlie & Jill Doiron

Charlie & Jill Doiron

When Jill Doiron was diagnosed with stage 3c breast cancer in 2001, her chances of surviving five years with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy alone were not much better than 50:50. She was 44 at the time, and wanted to be around to see her three young children grow up.

When her care team offered her the chance to participate in a clinical trial at the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton, it was an easy decision for Jill. It meant the possibility of receiving leading-edge treatment, as well as the fact that her involvement in the clinical trials program could help future cancer patients. “It had the potential to improve the odds of survival over the standard treatment,” said Jill. With two cancer recurrences in 2006 and 2011, Jill chose to participate in another clinical trial each time – with one trial becoming a standard of care. She and her husband Charlie firmly believe that if she hadn’t taken part, she might not be alive today.

In gratitude of the excellent care that Jill received, the Doiron’s have become long-time supporters of the Alberta Cancer Foundation, donating over $1.1 million to the clinical trials program at the Cross Cancer Institute. They felt it was important to give back to the facility that delivered such expert care – one that is making important contributions not only to cancer research, but to patients’ lives as well.

“Some of it is paying back in gratitude for the benefits we’ve received from the Cross Cancer Institute – but it’s also a commitment to further the understanding of breast cancer and its treatment. It’s an investment in our future – and in our children’s collective futures – perhaps a future without breast cancer.”

Most recently, the Doiron’s made a pledge to match all donations made to the Alberta Cancer Foundation’s January Direct Marketing Campaign, up to a total of $50,000. This matching gift campaign raised more than $300,000, not including the $50,000 match.

Their incredible generosity has created a lasting impact, making a difference for Albertans facing cancer.