Leap Summer 2014

AN EASY STRETCH

43 Albertans hear the words “you have cancer”

Find out how we’re changing that Page 18

Your inner yogi is well within reach

Volunteers pitch in to drive cancer awareness

LET’S DO SOMETHING

PLUS:Best summer

festivals; Sun exposure 101;

and more…

THE CANCER AWARENESS ISSUE SUMMER 2014

PM#40020055

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Register for The Enbridge® Ride to Conquer Cancer®

benefiting the Alberta Cancer Foundation and

experience a 2-Day cycling adventure like no other!

You will unite with thousands of riders to improve the

lives of Albertans and deliver results to patients, faster.

August 9-10, 2014 conquercAncer.cA 888.624.BIKe

TITLE SPONSOR

JoIn tHe

conquest

Together, we will redefine the future

for Albertans facing cancer.

SPACE IS LIMITED. regIster toDAY!

000Leap-RideConquer-FP.indd 1 2014-05-15 9:16 AMLeap_Summer14_p02-03.indd 2 2014-05-20 9:11 AM

summer 2014 3

SUMMER 2014 • VOL 5 • No. 2CONTENTS

FEATURES28 HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Wellspring Calg ar y is expanding its ser vices thanks to new par tner ship

32 TOP JOB Dr. Angeline Letendre helms consultative approaches to Aboriginal oncolog y

36 UNDER THE NEEDLE Tat too ar tist of fer s reconstructive ther apy for breast cancer sur vivor s

39 STRETCH IT OUT Yog a master y is closer than you think

42 RESEARCH ROCKSTAR Dr. Christine Friedenreich is a tr ailbla zer in the f ield of cancer research

47 WHY I DONATE Couple recognizes their family ’s histor y of ‘ spectacular care’ at the Cross Cancer Institute

DEPARTMENTS4 OUR LEAP

A message from the Alber ta Cancer Foundation

6 FOREFRONT Sun E xposure 101; Down & Dir t y 5K; Pigeon Lake Pedal; Best Summer Festiv als; Volunteer s Net National Aw ard

11 NEXT GEN Fellow ship helps fund stem cell research

12 BODY MIND Finding balance through tai chi and qigong

13 SMART EATS Cool alternatives to sug ar y drinks for summer thir st

14 ASK THE EXPERT How do I talk to my friend who has cancer? PLUS: Sunburns and skin cancer risk; bir th control and cancer links

16 BEYOND CANCER Meeting pr actical and psychosocial needs of cancer sur vivor s

31 CORPORATE GIVING Lindesfarne Productions turns its lens on cancer and where research dollar s are going

50 MY LEAP Widower cycles through the ups and downs of cancer

SUMMER SPOTLIGHT THE CANCER AWARENESS ISSUE

28

18

32

42

COVER STORY: Dr. Alain Tremblay is leading a directive to create a provincial screening progr am for lung cancer.

18 BREATH OF FRESH AIR New message and screening could change lung cancer treatment and diagnosis

22 GET ENGAGED Patients , donor s and researcher s meet at the same table

24 LET’S DO SOMETHING Alber tan volunteer s r ally for cancer aw areness

A l b e r t a C a n c e r F o u n d a t i o n

24

Register for The Enbridge® Ride to Conquer Cancer®

benefiting the Alberta Cancer Foundation and

experience a 2-Day cycling adventure like no other!

You will unite with thousands of riders to improve the

lives of Albertans and deliver results to patients, faster.

August 9-10, 2014 conquercAncer.cA 888.624.BIKe

TITLE SPONSOR

JoIn tHe

conquest

Together, we will redefine the future

for Albertans facing cancer.

SPACE IS LIMITED. regIster toDAY!

000Leap-RideConquer-FP.indd 1 2014-05-15 9:16 AM Leap_Summer14_p02-03.indd 3 2014-05-21 1:47 PM

4 summer 2014

alberta cancer foundationmessage /

TRUSTEES

Angela Boehm, Chair Calgary

Gary Bugeaud Calgary

Heather Culbert Calgary

Steven Dyck Lethbridge

Paul Grundy Edmonton (ex-officio)

Don Lowry Edmonton

Katie McLean Calgary

John J. McDonald Edmonton

Andrea McManus Calgary

Brent Saik, Vice Chair Sherwood Park

Sandy Slator Edmonton

Greg Tisdale Calgary

Vern Yu, Vice Chair Calgary

m y l e a p m a g a z i n e . c a

For the first time in Leap’s four-year history, we don’t have a person on our cover. A few months into our Campaign 43, we are reminded of how important that number is in Alberta – a number we are focused on changing. Forty-three people heard today that they have cancer, 43 Albertans will hear that tomorrow and 43 more the day after that.

We remain committed to those 43 Albertans and in this issue of Leap, you will read more about our “transformative programs” – the first mile-stone in our new investment model. We know these motivated research-ers will speed the pace of discovery, translating results to better screen-ing and prevention tools, improved treatment and care.

You will also read about Mary Agnes Radostits, one of those 43 Albertans who faced a cancer diagnosis several years ago and as a result of the care she received at the Cross Cancer Institute, she and her hus-band Ivan Radostits wanted to give back. It was important that their donation generated more answers about this disease. As Ivan says, “without research, we make no progress. It is absolutely essential for developing new treatments.” The generosity of the Radostitses means a researcher like Dr. Luc Berthiaume can evaluate what may be a potential new class of anti-drugs for lymphomas. If successful, it will improve patient care and outcomes and spare patients with unresponsive

tumours the toxic side effects of current therapies. Thanks to investments in research, we know more

about cancer than we ever did before and that means more people are living longer with cancer. It also means we have a greater role to play in easing the cancer jour-ney for those Albertans.

The Alberta Cancer Foundation financially supports the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary, the Cross Cancer Institute in Edmonton and the 15 other centres across the province. We know patients receive excellent care in all of them. We also know if treatment is to be successful, it’s important to allow people to focus on all aspects of wellbeing and healing – not just the physical side of things. That’s why we have entered into a partnership with Wellspring Calgary, a facility that will allow patients and families to receive the unconditional support they need during a difficult time. As you will read in this issue, one visitor says, “Wellspring programs can improve our outcomes. Healing from the emotional and spiritual aspects of cancer just increases our odds.”

While we push for more answers, that’s what we like to hear.

Myka Osinchuk, CEO Angela Boehm, ChairAlberta Cancer Foundation Alberta Cancer Foundation

Increasing the Odds

Without research, we make no progress. It is absolutely essential for developing new treatments.

Leap_Summer14_p04-05.indd 4 2014-05-21 1:48 PM

summer 2014 5

SUMMER 2014 VOL 5 • No. 2

A l b e r t a C a n c e r F o u n d a t i o n

ALBERTA CANCER FOUNDATIONEDITOR: PHOEBE DEY

CALGARY OFFICESuite 300, 1620 - 29 Street NWCalgary, Alberta T2N 4L7

PROVINCIAL OFFICE710, 10123 - 99 Street NWEdmonton, Alberta T5J 3H1Toll-free: 1-866-412-4222Tel: [email protected]

VENTURE PUBLISHING INC.PUBLISHER: RUTH KELLYDIRECTOR OF CUSTOM CONTENT: MIFI PURVISMANAGING EDITORS: LYNDSIE BOURGON, SHELLEY WILLIAMSONART DIRECTOR: CHARLES BURKEASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR: COLIN SPENCEASSOCIATE ART DIRECTOR: ANDREA DEBOERPRODUCTION MANAGER: BETTY FENIAK SMITHPRODUCTION TECHNICIANS: BRENT FELZIEN, BRANDON HOOVERWEB & SYSTEMS ARCHITECT: GUNNAR BLODGETTDISTRIBUTION: KAREN REILLY

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Colleen Biondi, L. Sara Bysterveld, Linda E. Carlson, Pat Fream, Janine Giese-Davis, Elizabeth Hames, Sue LeBreton, Michelle Lindstrom, Noemi LoPinto, Karol Sekulic

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS AND ILLUSTRATORS: Brian Buchsdruecker, Cooper + O’Hara, Buffy Goodman, Ewan Nicholson, Amy Senecal

ABOUT THE ALBERTA CANCER FOUNDATIONThe Alberta Cancer Foundation is Alberta’s own, established to advance cancer research, prevention and care and serve as the charitable foundation for the Cross Cancer Institute, Tom Baker Cancer Centre and Alberta’s 15 other cancer centres. At the Alberta Cancer Foundation, we act on the knowledge that a cancer-free future is achievable. When we get there depends on the focus and energy we put to it today.

Leap is published for the Alberta Cancer Foundation by Venture Publishing Inc., 10259-105 Street, Edmonton, AB T5J 1E3Tel: 780-990-0839, Fax: 780-425-4921, Toll-free: [email protected]

The information in this publication is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek advice from your physician or other qualified health provider regarding any medical condition or treatment.

Printed in Canada by Transcontinental LGM. Leap is printed on Forest Stewardship Council ® certified paper Publications Agreement #40020055 ISSN #1923-6131Content may not be reprinted or reproduced without permission from Alberta Cancer Foundation.

Increasing the Odds


m y l e a p m a g a z i n e . c a6 summer 2014

BY SHELLEY WILLIAMSON

The Pigeon Lake Pedal celebrates a decade of pushing for a cure

Ten years ago, Taylor Pedersen was diagnosed with Ewings sarcoma. He was just 17, and the rare cancer was aggressively attacking his connective tissues. Taylor and his family would walk away from his successful battle with cancer convinced of the power of early-diagnosis, and they went on to found the Pigeon Lake Pedal as a way to support this.

“It really started with a bang,” says Lauren Pedersen, Taylor’s sister. Now going into its 10th year, the Lion’s Club of Pigeon Lake-organized event is a day-long bike ride that raises money and awareness surrounding cancer research and early diagnosis. Held at Pigeon Lake, 105 kilometres southwest of Edmonton, the funds raised through the Pigeon Lake Pedal’s participants, sponsors and donors benefit the Alberta Cancer Foundation. The day includes a family barbecue, prizes and events, and this year’s festivities will take place on June 28. The event hosts long and short rides, family-friendly activities and the opportunity to walk the route.

Since it began, the Pedal has raised almost $400,000, which was donated towards the purchase of a PET/CT scanner for the Cross Cancer Institute. The scanner produces higher-resolution images that can detect tumours more accurately, and scans four times as many people per day. The event continues to support clinical trial research at the Institute.

“The biggest highlight for me is just being together with everyone for the whole day, and feeling so much support and kindness,” says Lauren. “Knowing that, at the end of that day, we have all made a small difference and are motivated to continue doing so.”

Hats off to these tips for weathering powerful summer rays

Not all sunscreens are created equal. Before you exercise the right to bare arms this summer, know what’s actually on drugstore shelves, and consider other options for protecting yourself from the sun’s harmful rays.

THE ABCS OF SPF: The SPF rates how effective the sunscreen is in preventing sunburn caused by UVB rays. If you’d normally burn in 10 minutes, SPF 15 multiplies that by a factor of 15, meaning you could go 150 minutes before burning. Dermatologists urge going with an SPF of at least 30, which blocks 97 per cent of the sun’s rays – with those carrying higher SPF values blocking slightly more. No sunscreen can actually block 100 per cent of the sun’s rays. And regardless of what SPF you slather on, the experts advise re-applying every two hours for the best protection.

Unfortunately, there is no rating to tell you how good a sunscreen is at blocking UVA rays, so when it comes to UVA protection, you need to read ingredients. Look for a sunscreen that contains at least one of the following: ecamsule, avobenzone, oxybenzone, titanium dioxide, sulisobenzone, or zinc oxide.

NO KIDDING AROUND: Babies under the age of six months should avoid direct sun exposure, if possible, and since sunscreens may affect their sensitive skin adversely, newborns shouldn’t wear it.

Doctors advise keeping babies in the shade, or if they will be exposed to the sun, dressing them in long sleeves, wide-brimmed hats, pants and even sunglasses. And for children past the six month mark, sunscreens containing zinc or titanium dioxide are best, as it they will not absorb into the skin.

One alternative is choosing garments with UPF labels. UPF, a concept standardized in Australia in 1996, stands for ultraviolet protection factor, which quantifies piece of clothing’s effectiveness in shielding against

Pedal for the cause

the sun. A shirt with a UPF of 50 allows 1/50th of the sun’s UV radiation to reach your skin, and would provide excellent sun protection, in contrast to a thin cotton T-shirt, which has a UPF of five, which allows 1/5th of the sun’s UV through — more when wet. In studies done in Australia, Lycra/elastane fabrics were most likely to have UPFs of 50 or higher, followed by nylon and polyester.

EXPLORE YOUR SHADY SIDE: Science supports the benefits of using sunscreen in minimizing short- and long-term damage from time spent in the sun. But the American Academy of Dermatology suggests that, along with sporting sunscreen, people should seek out shade, wear hats, sunglasses and protective clothing and avoid tanning beds, to truly reduce the risk of skin cancer.

WHAT’S YOUR TYPE? Though the pros say that choosing the right sunscreen is a personal matter, there are a few guidelines to keep in mind before reaching for that gel, stick, cream or spray. Creams are best for dry areas of skin and the face, while gels work best on hairy spots like the scalp or a man’s chest, and sticks work well for using around the eyes. Sprays are also a popular choice, especially by parents who are tasked with applying them to their children, or men with a balding scalp – but one downside is it’s hard to tell if enough has been applied for protection to all exposed parts.

BE GENEROUS, BUT CAREFUL: When applying sunscreen, the experts advocate being generous, to ensure you achieve the UV protection dictated on the label of the product. Never spray products directly into your face or mouth, but instead spray into your hand, then apply it to the face. And in terms of what that right quantity looks like, the rule of thumb prescribed by dermatologists for adults is one teaspoon to the face and scalp and each arm, and two to the torso and to each leg. Source: The American Academy of Dermatology

SUN

EXPOSURE

101

Forefront • prevent, treat, cure


A l b e r t a C a n c e r F o u n d a t i o n summer 2014 7

ALBERTA’S BEST FESTSCINEMA UNDER THE STARS, Banff June 7, July 5 and August 2, 2014Back for its second year by popular demand, stars twinkle on the screen and off during this summer event. At dusk, sitting on the grass with a mountain view behind the screen, there’s no more perfect way to catch a movie.

DINOFEST, Drumheller June 13-15, 2014Take part in this Prehistoric weekend in Drumheller, Alberta’s dinosaur capital. The weekend celebrates paleontology and includes outdoor movies and a triathlon event.

PRAIRIE APPRECIATION FESTIVAL, Medicine Hat June 14, 2014The Nature Conservancy of Canada and Alberta Prairie Conservation Forum host this day of ranchland fun and heritage. This is the second-annual event, which includes a group barbecue and a “bug safari.”

FLYING BUFFALO FESTIVAL, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump June 25, 2014Take advantage of Alberta’s whipping winds and watch this hand-painted kite festival soar high above Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump this June. The kites reflect a buffalo theme, and are all designed by local artists.

FORT EDMONTON HIGHLAND GAMES, Edmonton July 12-13, 2014Celebrate Scottish culture in Edmonton at these annual Celtic games. The event includes Highland games and bagpipe performances, as well as traditional dancing and drumming.

CALGARY FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL, Calgary July 24-27, 2014

The CFMF has something for everyone – and certainly brings way more to the city than acoustic folk music singers, though there’s some of that too. Last year, volunteers teamed up to bring back

Prince’s Island Park, which the fest takes over for the weekend, after it was damaged under flood waters. In its 35th year, its bringing

acts like Bruce Cockburn, Jill Barber and Patty Griffin to town.

ZOMBIE SURVIVOR, Calgary July 26, 2014Zombie Survivor is a five-kilometre race that will have you running for your life – literally. Well, maybe not literally, but you’ll join a pack of the undead as they compete in the race and try to make it out “alive.” Not everyone does, so you better

start training!

SHEEP LEAVING PARADE, Fort Saskatchewan September 1, 2014

A sure sign that summer is leaving in Fort Saskatchewan is its annual sheep migration. Watch as the parade weaves through town and welcome autumn with a picnic lunch and town celebration.Source: Travel Alberta


Join us on Sunday, August 17, 2014 for the 2nd annual Down & Dirty 5KM Obstacle Course

at Sunridge Ski Hill.

albertacancer.ca/downanddirty2014

Join us on Sunday, August 17, 2014 for the 2nd annual Down & Dirty 5KM Obstacle Course

(CCIVA) was awarded a Prime Minister’s Volunteer Award this year, in the category of Community Leader on the Prairies. As a not-for-profit organization, the CCIVA started in the early 1960s as a group of volunteers who delivered refreshments to patients and their families in waiting rooms. Since then, volunteers have donated more than 1.3 million hours of time and well over $4 million. Now, 350 volunteers provide everything from transportation services to clinic support to a wig salon. By providing programs and services that would otherwise not be available, the CCIVA complements the work of medical professionals.

As the comprehensive cancer institute for Edmonton and northern Alberta, the Cross Cancer Institute sees between 600 and 700 patients per day. “The volunteer resources department is so proud to work with our volunteers, who demonstrate an unwavering commitment to positively impact the experience of patients and families at the [Cross Cancer] institute,” says Deborah McTaggart-Baird, volunteer resources manager, adding that the work of the volunteers helps in “ways both large and small.”

The CCIVA and partners, including the Alberta Cancer Foundation, opened the new outdoor Healing Garden on the west side of the facility in the fall of 2013, which is now available for patients, visitors, staff and volunteers.

It Takes a VillageExtraordinary work by Cross Cancer Institute volunteers is honoured by the prime minister

After decades of work, hundreds of volunteers in Edmonton have been honoured for their dedication to bringing compassion and caring to cancer patients in the capital region.

The Cross Cancer Institute’s Volunteer Association



WAG THE DOG

Try adding walking lunges throughout your walk. Keep your dog by your side

every time you lunge by pulling up on his leash, to signal that he should sit. Hold the lunge for as long as it takes him to sit down!

Add interval training to your walk, by running a bit for two minute stretches

every once in a while. You can work your way up to five minute jogs – mix it up by adding zig-zag motions as you go.

Some well-trained dogs can even join you in fitness class, like run club, or you can

join a pet-friendly exercise group that includes sit-ups for you and obstacle training for your dog.

INGREDIENTS:• 1 large cucumber, diced• 250 millilitres (1 cup) grape or cherry

tomatoes, halved• 1 can (443 millilitres) black beans,

rinsed and drained• 60 millilitres (1 ¼ cup) red onion, finely

chopped• 1 medium green bell pepper, seeded

and diced• 1 medium jalapeno, seeded and minced

(optional)

• 60 millilitres (1/4 cup) fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

• 1 medium lime (grated peel and juiced)• 10 millilitres (2 teaspoons) cider vinegar• 15 millilitres (1 Tablespoon) canola oil• 1 millilitre (1/4 teaspoon) pepper

DIRECTIONS: 1. Combine all ingredients in bowl.2. Toss gently and blend. Serve

immediately or cover and refrigerate up to four hours.

Cucumber & Black Bean Salad

Healthy Tip: This versatile, healthy salad contains more than eight grams of fibre per serving. To get your daily orange vegetable serving with this dish, top the salad with 125 millilitres (1/2 cup) of grated carrot. Add the salad to a chicken wrap for lunch, or serve it as a side with dinner.

Serves 4 • Size: 375 millilitres (1 ½ cups)

Nutritional information per serving: 132 kcal; 4 grams fat; 0.3 grams saturated fat; 24 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams fibre; 6 grams protein

From the Pure Prairie Eating Plan (by Drs. Catherine Chan and Rhonda Bell)

Try these simple ways to switch up your dog-walking routine


THROUGH MUDDY WATERS

There will be mud. A lot of mud. On August 17, 2014, brave fundraisers will suffer through mucky ground in their bid to raise money for the Alberta Cancer Foundation. The Down & Dirty obstacle course is a five-kilometre race set up around the Sunridge Ski Hill in Edmonton. The course is a challenging route, up and over hills, and includes problem solving and good luck as much as physical prowess. It’s also super muddy, and includes running, dragging and crawling through the dirt.

Race founder Dr. Robert Deltombe started fundraising for cancer research after his grandmother died from brain cancer in 2003. His first year of the Down & Dirty race was so successful that they’re doing it again this year. The race includes male and female branches. The money raised through the fundraiser goes towards the Alberta Cancer Foundation and the Cross Cancer Institute. At the end, some donated shoes are cleaned and donated to the Hope Mission.

For more information, visit albertacancer.ca/downanddirty2014

An obstacle course fundraiser has its participants getting down and dirty



Karin Coles and her brother Warren wanted to fulfill their father’s wishes and legacy through giving back in his honour, and their hard work to do so has led to the influential Fred C. Coles Fellowship, via the Alberta Cancer Foundation.

“He was very involved with the Alberta Cancer Foundation, particularly the Tom Baker Cancer Centre,” says Karin, of her father Fred. “Warren and I made a col-lective decision that funding a fellowship would be the best use of that legacy and the best use of the dona-tions that were made in his name, so that there would be an ongoing piece to contribute to cancer research.”

While Karin and Warren did not specify what research the fellowship should support after Fred’s death of can-cer in 2008, the Coles mandated that it fund Alberta-based “breakthrough information in cancer identifica-tion and treatment.”

It only takes a conversation with Yulia Shulga, the fel-lowship’s beneficiary, to realize she is doing impressive things with it. The post-doctoral fellow in the depart-ment of oncology at the University of Calgary is working with breast cancer stem cells to better understand how they form tumours, a continuation of work that was initi-ated by Dr. Derrick Rancourt. Now Shulga works under Rancourt, in hopes that their efforts will one day lead to a cure for cancer. A Canadian Institutes of Health Research fellowship further supports her research.

“We are interested to know if we can make a model of a tumour in vitro, so in a dish,” says Shulga, 32, adding it’s for the purpose of studying cells as close to human as possible. “What I am also trying to do is reprogram the cells into IPS cells. Shinya Yamanaka from Japan just got a Nobel Prize for doing this from a regular fibroblast. You take a regular cell and reprogram them to pluripotent stem cells and they became the same as embryonic stem cells. So we are trying to do the same and see if this cancer potential can be erased during the programming or it will stay there.”

Since induced pluripotent stem cells can be derived directly from adult tissues, they not only eliminate the need for embryos, but can also be made in a patient-matched manner, which means that each individual could have their own pluripotent stem cell line. It also means not having to test on animals.

“I think it’s important because it’s going to open up new ways of looking at cancer biology,” says Rancourt. “We’re kind of limited by having to do transplantations in animals.”

Shulga came to stem cell research in Canada late in

her academic career. After earning an undergrad degree from Novosibirsk State University in her native Russia, she did her PhD in biochemistry at McMaster University. It was then that she decided to turn her attention to stem cell research, which she hopes to continue past the August 2016 end date of her fellowship.

“Ideally, I would like to find a faculty position to become a professor and continue my research,” says Shulga. “I am really interested in the field of cancer and would be interested to see how we can fight cancer using cancer stem cells or any other aspect of cancer. There are still so many types of cancers, and people have been trying to cure. It for so long, and there are still very few available drugs for any cancer. I think some of them can be cured, but many of them are so progressive and hard to cure, it’s very unfortunate and I want to change something about that.”

Karin says she and Warren have met Shulga and Rancourt, and that their father would appreciate their dedication. “One of the things Dad had said to me, even in the last week of his life when we were talking about cancer and his experiences, was ‘maybe what I am doing right now isn’t going to help me, but if it can help the next person, then I am going to do it,’ ” she says. “Knowing that in Alberta we can contrib-ute to having some of the best science minds come together and tackle some of the most difficult medical problems, being a small part of that and contributing to the work that can be done in that area is pretty significant.”


LEGACY FUNDS Fellowship funded as father’s last wish helps researchers study stem cells and cancer

INHERITANCE: Yulia Shulga is using the Fred C. Coles Fellowship to study how breast cancer stem cells form tumours.

supporting young mindsNext Gen •


I’ve talked about a wide range of complementary therapies in this column over the years – from meditation and yoga to acupuncture, creative therapies and natural health products l ike herbs and vitamins. But what about those more esoteric martial arts you occasionally see people practising in movies or out in the park? The two most common are tai chi and qigong, both derived from traditional Chinese medicine. Increasingly, they have been studied as potentially helpful practices for people liv-ing with cancer.

Tai chi is a shortened name, from tai chi ch’uan, a form of martial art derived from traditional Chinese medicine. It is actually a sub-set or adaptation of the older qigong practices, and involves a series of slow, specific movements or “forms,” done in a meditative fashion. It is purported that focusing the mind solely on the movements of the form helps to bring about a state of mental calm and clarity. Over the years, the practice itself has been separated from its mar-tial arts roots, and is now widely taught as a gentle practice and exercise.

A number of studies have even considered its use-fulness for cancer patients. A review of seven con-trolled trials in breast cancer concluded tai chi may help to improve psychological and physical health factors, like mood, quality of life and anxiety. In el-derly people, a larger body of research supports its efficacy for improving balance, preventing falls and improving overall psychological well-being.

Similarly, a growing body of research suggests the efficacy of qigong, a practice of aligning breath, movement, and awareness for exercise, healing,

and meditation. Qigong is traditionally viewed as a practice to cultivate and balance qi (chi) or “intrinsic life energy.” Qigong practices are often simpler and more repetitive than tai chi forms, which can take many months to learn, and exercises generally have three components: a posture (whether moving or stationary), breathing techniques, and mental focus on guiding qi through the body. While not as common in Western societies as tai chi, qigong is very common in the East, and medical qigong is widely used as a health practice throughout China. A review of the literature, including Chinese and Korean databases, found 23 studies in cancer care. The most consistent benefits were seen on immune system function (reduced inflammation), improved mood, quality of life and fatigue.

So where can you go to try some of this? Unfortunately at the moment we do not offer classes through AHS Cancer Control, though we are planning some clinical trials of medical qigong in the future.

In the meantime, to find a local class, try the Western Canada Taoist Tai Chi society. Medical qigong is available through Dr. Stephen Aung in Edmonton, and through practice groups around the province. Additionally, Wellspring Calgary offers both tai chi and qigong to cancer patients and survivors for no charge. Read more about the facility on page 28.

Dr. Linda Carlson (lindacarlson.ca) is the Enbridge Chair in Psychosocial Oncology at the University of Calgary and a clinical psychologist at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre.


Slow and Steady

BY LINDA E. CARLSON

How tai chi and qigong can help cancer patients and survivors find balance

making positive connectionsBody Mind •

Leap_Summer14_p12-13.indd 12 2014-05-20 9:16 AM

How do you do this?Read the ingredient list to see if what you are about to drink has added sugar. Sugar is listed many different ways on an ingredient list. For example, it can be appear as: dextrose, fructose, glucose, syrup or fruit juice concentrate.

Then, on the next hot day or at your next summer function, take steps to cut back on sugar sweetened drinks:• Drink water, soda water or flavoured waters with little or no added sugar.• Add lemon, lime, orange or cucumber slices or sprigs of mint to make water

extra tasty.• Choose plain brewed coffee or tea. Iced coffees and teas or frozen slushy ones

often have added syrups.• If sugar-sweetened beverages are the only option, ask to have it made with half

the syrup or choose the smallest size possible.

With summer here, many of us will be looking for ways to keep cool. Often that involves having a refresh-ing drink on a hot day, but to keep cool with drink in hand and health in mind, consider what’s in your cup.

It is surprising to see how much added sugar and cal-ories are in some summer drinks. And research shows that the sugar and calories we consume in drinks do not help us to feel full, making it is easy to drink large quantities without realizing it.

Why is that a problem? Sugar-sweetened drinks have been linked to weight gain and more recently, heart disease. Sugar is added to many drinks including sugar-sweetened pop, tonic water, energy drinks, sports drinks, lemonade, iced tea, vitamin-enhanced waters, coconut water, flavoured cof-fees and slushy drinks. With so many varieties of sugary drinks at our fingertips, the amount we drink can add up quickly. The global Food, Nutrition and the Preven-tion of Cancer report goes so far as to include a recom-mendation to avoid sugary drinks altogether.

How much is too much?The current recommendation from the World Health Organization is to consume no more than 10 per cent of your daily calories as added sugar. Added sugar is the extra sugar put into food or drink when it is being made or processed. You can find out if sugar has been added to your food by looking at the ingredient list. When you look for it on the label, you may be surprised how many food and beverages contain added sugar.

How much added sugar does this mean?This amount depends on your age and gender. For example, for an adult female who needs about 1,800 calories a day, the maximum amount of calories from added sugar is about 180 calories. This would equal 11 teaspoons of added sugar per day.

When you consider that this 10 per cent includes the sugar in drinks, it is very easy to reach or exceed that amount. For example, drinking one bottle (591 milli-litres) of sweetened iced tea in your day gives you 13 teaspoons of added sugar.

Thus, a good way to reduce the amount of sugar you consume is by reducing the sugar in your drinks.

Karol Sekulic is a registered dietitian with Alberta Health Services who has expertise and interest in the areas of weight management and nutrition communications.


BY KAROL SEKULIC

Sweet NothingsSugary summer drinks are nothing but empty calories. Check out these cool options for beating the summer heat

food for lifeSmart Eats •



“Finding out that a friend or a relative has cancer can be quite shocking. In such circumstances, being a good listener and a good helper can be challenging,” says Guy Pelletier, clinical psycholo-gist in the Department of Psychosocial Resources at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary.

He gives these helpful pointers as you help your friend navigate his or her treatment and care. “First, don’t assume that your friend feels and thinks the way you do,” Pelletier says. “As best as possible, express the feelings that you feel and make offers you can manage.” In terms of what to say, he says it’s OK to be honest about not knowing the best next steps to take.

“It is OK to say something like, ‘I don’t know what to say right now, but I care for you and I want to help you.’ ” Pelletier explains. “Other acceptable responses may include ‘I am sorry this is happen-ing to you’ or ‘What are you feeling at this time?’ ” he says, noting these are more direct and clear than a blanket “How are you feeling?”

If your friend opens up the conversation about cancer, it is safe to assume he/she wants to talk about it, Pelletier says. “Try to help the conversa-tion by encouraging the person to talk freely and tell his or her story. Avoid shutting the person down by saying something like: ‘I know how you feel’ (because you don’t), ‘my aunt had that kind of cancer too and it was horrible,’ or ‘I know you will be all right.’ ”

Sometimes a person may not feel like talking much, so in such case it’s OK to just touch or hug, or be good company. Finally, it’s a good time to be practical. “Make direct and specific offers of help such as driving, cooking, cleaning, rather than say-ing “tell me how I can help?” Pelletier concludes.

A friend of mine has cancer. What can I say or do?

“Taking the birth control pill may slightly increase your risk of developing breast cancer, but the good news is that the risk is small and tends to return to normal after you’ve stopped taking it for 10 years or more,” says Dr. Huiming Yang, Medical Director, Screening Programs, for Alberta Health Services.

Yang notes that most women taking hormonal birth control are younger, and generally at an age when breast cancer is rare. But, he says, “For women who have had a past breast cancer, hormones in the pill might have an effect on the cancer. If you’re worried about your risk of breast cancer, you can consider switching to a non-hormonal form of birth control and finding out whether screening is right for you.”

Yang says that screening mammography is still the best method for detecting cancer early. For more information about breast cancer and screening mammograms, he suggests talking to your healthcare provider or visiting www.screeningforlife.ca/breastcancer.

Other good resources on the subject include the National Cancer Institute’s (2014) Genetics of Breast and Ovarian Cancer (www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/oral-contraceptives), Yang advises.

I’ve heard that there is some connection between birth control and breast cancer. What do I need to know?

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWEREDWe polled the pros on your concerns about talking to you friend about his or her cancer, sun exposure and burns, and possible birth control pills and breast cancer links


a resource for youAsk the Expert •



Ask our experts questions about general health, cancer prevention and treatment. Please submit them via email to [email protected]. Remember, this advice is never a substitute for talking directly to your family doctor.

“Skin cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed cancers,” says Allison Fyfe, nurse practi-tioner in surgical oncology with Alberta Health Services. “The most common types of skin cancers include basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carci-nomas and melanoma. In 2012, an estimated 81, 300 Canadians were diagnosed with non-melanoma skin cancer such as basal or squamous cell carcino-ma,” Fyfe adds, noting melanoma is one of the most devastating types of cancer, and its incidence is on the rise. “In 2012, an estimated 5,800 Canadians were diagnosed with melanoma, resulting in an esti-mated 970 deaths.”

Fyfe says the good news amidst the staggering statistics is most skin cancers are preventable – essentially by avoiding excessive Ultraviolet (UV) radiation exposure from the sun and artificial sources. And for those who are facing a skin cancer diagnosis, the earlier a diagnosis is made, the better overall outcome for patients, she says.

Having worked for many years in the Cutaneous Clinic at the Tom Baker Centre in Calgary, when it comes to skin cancer, Fyfe has nearly seen it all. “New patients often come to the clinic after having a concerning skin lesion or changing mole. This lesion is usually detected by themselves, a family member or friend, doctor, hair dresser or massage therapist,” she explains. “They often describe a new mole or long term mole that has changed in size, shape, colour or has become raised, oozing, bleeding, not healing or itchy. They will go on to have a biopsy of this lesion and a diagnosis is made. When it’s a diag-nosis of cancer, it is understandably very difficult for patients and their families.”

Melanomas detected early can be lower-risk and have better outcomes, says Fyfe, adding: “A high-risk melanoma has a greater chance of spreading within the body leading to intensive t reatments. Unfortunately, in some cases, this is incurable,” she notes. “It is heart breaking to see both younger and older people dying of melanoma.”

The Alberta Provincial Cutaneous Tumor Team developed a list of guidelines (summarized at right) for skin cancer prevention, which Fyfe stresses following:

I have heard skin cancer is relatively rare these days. Is this true?

• Limit sun exposure in the midday sun (usually between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.) as UV rays are reflected on snow, water and concrete.• Seek shade whenever possible.• Wear protective clothing when in the sun, including a wide-brim hat, sunglasses and tightly woven, loose fitting clothes that cover as much of the body as possible.• Use broad spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30 and protective lip balm even on cloudy days. Apply both liberally to ensure adequate protection. Reapply often, every two hours and immediately after swimming or excessive sweating. • Avoid indoor tanning.• Protect children and teens with the tips listed above. Use sunscreen on children six months of age or older. • Babies younger than six months should be kept out of direct sunlight and protected from the sun using hats and protective clothing. • Regularly examine your skin and report to your doctor any skin lesion that looks unusual, is not healing or has changed in size, shape, colour, is itchy or bleeding.

Other resources for more detailed information include: www.albertapreventscancer.ca for UV radiation information, including The Big Burn and Be SunsibleDermatology.ca albertahealthservices.ca/poph/hi-poph-surv-phids-snapshot- skin-cancer.pdf



Forty-three people will be diagnosed with cancer in Alberta today, and roughly 27 of them, or 63 per cent, will live at least five years depending on their cancer type and stage. Because people are living lon-ger with cancer, it’s more important than ever to iden-tify their needs once they have finished treatment and head back to their everyday lives.

Over the last few years, the CancerBridges research team, in collaboration with Sharon Campbell, author of the “Survivor Unmet Needs” survey, has asked can-cer survivors to talk about what they’ve been lacking. Overall, more than 800 survivors of both adult and childhood cancers in Alberta were surveyed.

The survey was divided into practical and psycho-social unmet needs – practical needs include getting the information you need, getting what you need to return to work, help with financial issues, access to care when you need it and feeling like you know where to go to get that care. Patient concerns ranged from knowing which sources of information to trust, to getting test results quickly.

Psychosocial needs include aspects of recovery such as feeling able to cope with strains and stress-es, dealing with relationships and coping with feel-ing like you are different from the person you were before cancer. Some concerns that the survivors conveyed included strains on relationships, goal setting and long-term planning, and dealing with feelings of isolation.

The research team did find some good news, as well: 15-20 per cent of all cancer survivors did not have any unmet needs. However, roughly 45 per cent of people had at least one concern for which they required a high level of assistance that they were unable to find. On balance, the respondents reported greater psychosocial than practical needs.

In particular, minorities reported greater unmet needs, and their most pressing needs were different from Caucasian cancer survivors. For survivors still within one to five years after treatment, minority members’ practical needs were just as high as their psychosocial needs. Minority survivors’ top unmet needs included having to pay non-medical costs related to their cancer (travel, accommodation, special foods), making sure they had choices about which hospital or clinic they could go to and finding

information about all their treatment choices – including no treatment at all. Both minority and Caucasian survivors reported difficulties dealing with feel-

ing tired, stressed and worried, and with fears that their cancer had spread.The good news is that many of these needs are tied to receiving the right kind

of information at the right time. Survivors needed to know where to look for help, and who to go to receive help coping with their practical and psychosocial needs. Over the past two years, CancerBridges has provided half-day symposi-ums where they deliver this type of information (they have spoken to 1,600 sur-vivors, so far). CancerBridges has also published this information on CancerBridges.ca, so survivors had a one-stop shop to get connected. In the future, another one-stop shop may be the myhealthalberta.ca website, where Albertans will be able to access their own medical records.

Many people are working to improve the quality of information and access to care for Albertan cancer survivors. Right now we are conducting another survey of adult survivors of childhood cancers. If you were diagnosed as a child in Alberta, and you would like to participate, call Yvonne at 1-888-998-8148.

BY JANINE GIESE-DAVIS

COPING MECHANISMSA new survey identifies the practical and psychosocial needs of cancer survivors

stories of survivorshipBeyond Cancer •


18 BREATHOFFRESHAIRA new screening mes s a ge could change the w ay we dia g nose and treat lung cancer

22 GETENGAGEDTwo new prog r ams g ather patient s , donor s and researcher s at the s ame table

24 LET’SDOSOMETHINGWhen it comes to cancer aw arenes s , Alber tan volunteer s show that we can all pitch in

O

SPECIAL REPORT:

CANCER AWARENESS

nanygivendayinAlberta,43peoplearetold:“Youhavecancer.” In this issue, we focus on some of the researchers looking to change that number by creating a provincial screening program for lung cancer, and meet one of the

43 Albertans who could have benefitted from it.We also catch up with some busy volunteers who show what getting involved can mean

for those facing cancer, and learn how cancer care providers are making a concerted effort to meet the needs and wants of the people they serve – the 43 Albertans who hear those fateful words every day – by getting patients involved in care.




CANCER awareness

TRAILBLAZER: Dr. Alain Tremblay, researcher and associate professor of respiratory medicine at the University of Calgary, and his team are hoping to develop a provincially funded screening program for lung cancer.



A new screening message could change the way we diagnose and treat lung cancer

rian Wyllie of Stavely, Alberta, comes from a family of smokers. The retiree is the oldest of eight children; all smoked but one. Both of their

parents smoked and died of lung cancer. Wyllie, 69, has smoked since the age of 15, and was up to a pack a day when he did something back in the summer of 2010 – a simple something – which, quite literally, saved his life.

BBY COLLEEN BIONDI / PHOTOGRAPHY BY EWAN NICHOLSON

Breath ofFresh Air


One day, while reading the newspaper, he noticed that the organizers of the Pan-Canadian Early Detection of Lung Cancer Study were looking for long-term smokers. Wyllie – who was healthy, except for “smokers’ cough” – fit the bill, so he phoned to register as a candidate in the study.

Through the study he met Dr. Alain Tremblay, the respirologist in charge of the Calgary site (there are seven of them across Canada), and went through the introductory protocol – gathering family history, blood and urine samples, weight and height in-formation, blood pressure readings and undergoing an X-ray, CT scan and a bronchoscopy (which scopes the lungs and clips sample cells for biopsy). The results were all-clear.

But six months later, a follow-up CT scan found a “change in a spot” on his right lung. Wyllie had now entered an exclusive club which no one wants to be a part of – he was one of 43 Albertans that day to be told he had cancer.

Hearing you have lung cancer is a particularly daunting message. It is the leading cause of cancer death in both men and wom-en in Canada; only 15 per cent of people diagnosed with lung cancer remain alive after five years because, by the time symptoms typically


appear, the condition is advanced and treatment is mainly palliative. Smoking is the major cause of lung cancer, followed by radon exposure (this gas comes out of the ground into all our homes) and, to a smaller degree, by asbestos (people in the plumbing, construction and electri-

cian industries are particularly vul-nerable). The risk is also higher for people with chronic obstructive pul-monary disease (COPD).

Currently there is no national screening program for lung cancer. But Tremblay and his colleagues are out to change that. It is estimated that

with screening, 80 per cent of lung cancers can be found at an early stage and will be highly susceptible to treatment. In Wyllie’s case, for example, his lesion was very small (less than one centimetre in diameter), so the thoracic surgeon did a “wedge resection,” which clips out the malignant bit and a small amount of surrounding healthy tissue. There was minimal pain and minor discomfort, says Wyllie. There were a few days in hospital and no radiation or chemotherapy required.

That national study, which began in 2008 and will wrap up this fall, looked at the “best ways to do lung cancer screening,” says Montreal-born-and-raised Tremblay, 43, who is also an associate professor of respi-ratory medicine at the University of Calgary. Overall, 2,700 people across

CANCER awareness

It is estimated that with screening, 80 per cent of lung cancers can be found at an early stage and will be

highly susceptible to treatment.

STUDY SUBJECTS: It is estimated that 150,000 people in the province would meet high-risk criteria for lung cancer, and about half of those are expected to participate in a provincially-funded screening program which will follow up on existing national research, led by Dr. Alain Tremblay.



the country were examined, 250 of them from the Calgary region. There were two key goals for the study. One was the testing of a “risk

calculator,” which assesses an individual’s risk of developing lung can-cer based on factors like age, gender, education and smoking status. The second was to develop new ways of inter-preting findings to determine whether to treat or to monitor a patient. With scans, you see “lots of benign stuff,” says Trem-blay, noting if you are not careful, it could result in unnecessary and invasive testing and anxiety. And, although a sizeable lesion is significant, its location and shape is equally critical. Perhaps it is a slow-growing spot (estimated to be the case in up to 15 per cent of lung tumours), and re-scanning at three-month intervals might be the best recommendation. A “lung nodule calculator” was also developed, to determine the risk of a nodule being malignant. “It is a much more accurate way of deciding what is a positive scan and what is not,” says Tremblay. “Using this calculator we can re-duce false positives from 25 per cent to five per cent.”

Although the national work is ending for Tremblay, he won’t be with-out opportunity. The ACF recently announced $2.3 million in funding for a five-year provincial initiative to follow up on the work done national-ly. Tremblay, one of the 14 professionals and the team lead for this next phase of research, is very pleased. “We don’t want to lose our expertise or momentum,” he says.

The ultimate goal for the next phase of research is to develop a pro-vincially-funded screening program (it is estimated there are 150,000 people in the province who would meet high-risk criteria for lung can-cer, and about half of them are likely to participate), similar to mammo-grams for breast cancer detection – hopefully beginning in year three or four of the program. Until then, approximately 800 high-risk Albertans will contribute to research by receiving X-rays or low-dose CT scanning (with six to eight times less radiation than traditional CT scanners) over the study timeframe.

In the first few years, the initiative’s emphasis will be on learning how to build a screening program on a large scale. Information technolo-gy infrastructure will be built to manage activity (screening bookings) and correspondence, such as sending scanning results and requests for follow-ups to patients and doctors automatically. Currently, this is managed on an ad-hoc basis. The team will draw on the already-existing framework for breast cancer screening for modelling opportunities.

They’ll also look at resource implications, like how many CT scanners, lung-function testing labs, nurse practitioners and thoracic surgeons will be needed. “If we have a screening program, we’ll need twice as many [surgeons] in Alberta,” Tremblay says.

The lung nodule calculator, developed in the national study, has al-ready proven its worth on previous studies, but its efficacy will continue to be tested going forward over the next five years.

A sub-study will look at people who have been exposed to asbestos and are at risk for cancer of the lung lining (mesothelioma), especially if they smoke. In this case, the emphasis will be on assuring individuals that they don’t have the condition, a different approach to screening. High-risk in-dividuals will likely be subject to CT scanning, and low-risk individuals, to a blood test which has been found to be “promising” in detecting this type of cancer.

Since half the people who have come for screening to date are still smoking, “it is also critical that we help them quit,” says Tremblay. “What is even better than detecting lung cancer early is when it nev-er occurs.” There will be a program, in conjunction with Alberta Quits, to assist study participants who are still smoking, with cessation. They will be provided with nicotine patches, pragmatic strategies

FIND OUT MORE: For more information about the provincial study, email [email protected]

“Don’t smoke. Then we won’t need this program. I’ll be out of a job,”

says Dr. Alain Tremblay.

While it’s possible to develop lung cancer and not show any signs, or display these warning signs as a result of another medical condition, it’s a good idea to seek medical advice if you’re experiencing any or all of the following symptoms. They could be indicators of possible lung cancer.

• Fatigue• Cough• Shortness of breath• Chest pain, if a tumor spreads to the lining of the lung or

other parts of the body near the lungs• Loss of appetite• Coughing up phlegm or mucus• Coughing up blood

SignS and SymptomS of Lung CanCer

and counselling, all with the hope that they’ll butt out once they are determined to be at risk. The screening environment might just provide the perfect opportunity to quit, once and for all. With a targeted screening program, there will be more people hearing “you

have cancer,” Tremblay says. But, with an effective screening program, that message will come much earlier on and yield a much more positive result. The Alberta Cancer Foundation (ACF) has recently launched Campaign 43 to in-

crease awareness and to encourage Albertans to embrace cancer pre-vention strategies and healthy lifestyles.

Tremblay’s message to Albertans: “Don’t smoke. Then we won’t need this program. I’ll be out of a job.”

Wyllie echoes that message. In fact, he quit smoking in November 2013. That was after the national study follow-up screening protocol found yet another suspicious lesion, this time in his left lung. Again, he had the wedge retraction procedure and spent a few days in hos-pital. Upon his return home, he used a breathing machine, called an incen-tive spirometer, to prevent pneumonia and strengthen his lung capacity.

Wyllie is scheduled for an X-ray in May 2014 and, if everything is fine, he’ll have annual X-rays (his doctors are not recommending more CT scans, unless something else looks concerning, as he has been exposed to considerable radiation to date).

In the meantime, he is celebrating – making that initial phone call, participating in a ground-breaking study, finding his cancer early and getting good treatment. He is back to puttering with his antique cars and inventions. And now that he is no longer smoking, he is also able to savour that basil in his meat sauce. “It is wonderful. I’ve got my sense of smell back.”


BY MICHELLE LINDSTROM

GetENGAGED

Two Alberta Cancer Foundation-supported programs gather patients, donors and researchers at the same table


CANCER awareness


ost industries cater to the customer, relying on feedback and suggestions to stay on top of trends, preferences and improve services offered. But that

often isn’t the case in health care, where research can happen away from the patient experience. In a bid to change this, Alberta’s cancer care providers are making a concerted effort to meet the needs and wants of the people they serve – the 43 Albertans who hear: “You have cancer” every day – by asking patients how their care can be improved.

“In any other industry you would always go to the customer to find out what they are looking for, but in health care we have always made the assumption that we know best,” says Theresa Radwell, the Alberta Cancer Foundation’s vice-president of program in-vestment. “As we move forward, we want to partner with patients more within the foundation’s invest-ment process.”

In 2013, the Foundation invested more than $7 million into four Transformative Programs (one by Dr. Alain Tremblay described further in this issue of Leap). “That was really our first foray into this area,” Radwell says. “We learned a lot from the process and will be building on how to better partner with patients going forward.”

The Foundation is planning to engage patients in the development and program investment decisions for care enhancement initiatives, such as the ones Linda Watson leads. Watson, the leader for Interdisciplinary Practice for CancerControl Alberta and Alberta Health Services, oversees several operational programs, including the provincial Cancer Patient Navigation Program in community oncology, and the provincial Integrated Cancer Survivorship Program. Patient en-gagement is a core feature in both.

“The two programs really focus on a system of care delivery that can meet a range of patient and family needs at different points across their cancer journey,” Watson says. “Who is better situated to tell us what needs exist and if the programs are meeting those needs than patients and families who are living the experience.”

The Navigation program has a primary goal of im-proving rural patient and family access to supportive care, information and services. Patients and families have played an important evaluator role regarding the impact of this relatively new program through focus groups and surveys. Their feedback has led to strategies to increase awareness of the program.

In contrast, the Survivorship program is in the early stages of development and planning. “Although it aims to support the well-being of patients across their entire journey as well,” Watson says, “it will have a particular focus on improving the transition experience for pa-tients and families once treatment is finished and their care is transferred back to primary care.”

Funding from the Alberta Cancer Foundation en-abled the Survivorship team to engage with patients and families from the beginning of program planning,

bringing a different perspective to discussions. Includ-ing patient and family advisors in the program planning ensures that concerns and experiences of cancer survi-vors are at the heart of the program’s development.

“We developed role descriptions for our patient and family advisors,” Watson says, adding that structure was necessary to clarify the goals and expectations of everyone. It can be intimidating for patients to speak up in a conversation with stakeholders, community agencies and medical professionals also at the table. It is important for everyone to feel equal and heard for the idea of patient engagement to work.

M

With patients as partners, Radwell says the Alberta Cancer Foundation will be more intent on engaging patients and family suggestions about future priority setting, putting knowledge into practice and program development and investment. “The patient is the one element that is constant from beginning to end through the cancer journey,” she says. “Why would you not include them?”

The Foundation based its goal of more engaged patients on evidence of successful research around the world. For example, in the U.S., Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (www.pcori.org) invites patients and professionals to weigh in on research ap-plications, attend workshops and sit on advisory panels with the mission of all voices helping make more- informed health-care decisions. Also, the Alzheimer’s Society (www.alzheimers.org.uk) supports families throughout the United Kingdom by gathering expe-riences of caregivers, health professionals and even those with dementia to better-inform their work as a leading support and research charity.

Today, Radwell says donors are more informed and question the Foundation about where funds are going. They also want regular updates about the impact of their donations. Therefore, it’s only natural to include them in the conversation to hear things first-hand. “It’s not to say that patients have all the answers but without including them in those components, you’re missing a key piece of understanding about what things need to be addressed,” Radwell says. “It’s a big shift and it’s something than you can’t make overnight.”

“There is no one right way to engage patients but the important thing is that patients and families are involved and become co-creators of system redesign,” Watson adds. “Patient engagement is changing how health system redesign is happening, and the Survivorship and Navigation programs are tangible examples.”

“The patient is the one element that is constant from beginning to end through the cancer journey. Why would you not include them?” says Theresa Radwell.

Two Alberta Cancer Foundation-supported programs gather patients, donors and researchers at the same table



algarian Kathie Geleta was a fit 44-year-old when she found a small, painful lump the size of a pea in her left breast. Nevertheless, she was not overly concerned. She had recently had a clear mammogram and there was no history of

breast cancer in her family. In fact, she was so confident it was nothing that during routine physical with her doctor a week later, she forgot to mention it.

“I never thought cancer was a possibility,” she says. “I am super ac-tive, I was a dancer my whole life, I never smoked, I don’t drink. I’m just a clean living kind of person.”

But when she came home, her husband hit the roof. He insisted she go back and tell the doctor about the lump. “At first I ignored him, but two or three days later, I thought it felt bigger.”

That was in February of 2005. One month later, Geleta was diagnosed with a grade three, stage one malignant form of breast cancer. Stages of cancer describe the size and spread of the disease; grades describe the de-

When it comes to cancer awareness, Albertan volunteers

show that we can all pitch in

BY NOEMI LOPINTO

C


Let’s DoSomething

CANCER awareness

TEAM TATAS: Kathie Gelata (centre) takes a rest during the 2007 Weekend to End Breast Cancer with daughters Kaitlyn (left) and Nichole.


gree of abnormality of cells and tissue. In stage one, the cancer is evident but contained to a main area. In grades three and four, tumours tend to be growing and spreading faster. Which is why, on April 22, 2005, Geleta and her husband of 20 years found themselves driving to the hospital for an emergency bilateral, or double, mastectomy.

“It was a very tough morning,” she says. “Richard was so emotional. He is pretty stoic usually, a strong little Ukrainian guy, and he is usually so positive. It was like his world was falling apart. I kept telling him: don’t worry, everything is going to be fine, which is not re-ally how I was feeling.”

After the surgery, Geleta was informed that while her right breast had been cancer-free, her left breast had developed two more grade three tumours, and the rest of the breast was already pre-cancerous. The surgeons also removed 21 lymph nodes from her left side and some of her chest muscle. She began chemotherapy treatments two months later, at the Bow Valley Cancer Centre in Canmore. During her eight months of cancer treatment, she continued to work part-time and play golf. Despite terrible moments of fear and anx-iety, she says she mostly tried to focus on the future.

“You have to believe you’re going to beat it,” she says. “I refused to believe it was going to get me. My first oncologist said my prognosis was not great, and I just said: you don’t know me. I am going to beat this. I’ll show you. I really believe that my recovery had a lot to do with that.”

Geleta initially knew very little about a disease that affects tens of thousands of Canadians every year. Now she is practically an expert. Approximately 65 Canadian mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts and grandmothers are diagnosed with breast can-cer every day. One in nine Canadian women will develop the disease during an aver-age lifetime. Further, breast cancer affects men as well: in 2013, approximately 200

men were diagnosed with breast cancer. Just over 30 per cent of these men will not survive.

In her journey, Geleta says she met warriors of all kinds – from the medical staff who deal with cancer every-day, to survivors that mentor the sick, to the loved ones

who give back by fundrais-ing. By 2007, Geleta was well again and decided she needed to join their ranks. With her family and friends, she set to work to raise money for the Alberta Can-cer Foundation’s Weekend to End Breast Cancer. Her

fundraising group, Team Ta Tas, has organized an annual gala, sold everything from Easter baskets to lobster din-ners, and has walked hundreds of kilometres to raise mon-ey for cancer research. Over the past eight years, Team Ta Tas has raised more than $357,000. Geleta is not done yet – she says her ultimate goal is to surpass $500,000.

For survivors like Geleta, fundraising is a way of giving back to the people who saved their lives and a way of preventing their suffering from being passed on to oth-ers. For Barbara Lambert, Sherry Guenette and Danielle Murray, fundraising is a way of showing solidarity with a loved one. Their cousin Andrea Lambert has a rare form of breast cancer that grows quickly and persistently in

“I refused to believe it was going to get me. My first oncologist said my prognosis was not great, and I just said: you don’t know me. I am

going to beat this. I’ll show you. I really believe that my recovery had a lot to do with that,”

says Kathie Geleta.


Something



classes at the Santosa Hot Yoga and Wellness Center in Whitecourt to fundraising for the Alberta Cancer Founda-tion. The center agreed to waive their studio fees, and Mur-

ray has begun travelling to neighbouring com-munities to teach and collect more donations. By April, the Lambert women had raised more than $16,000. All three generations embraced

the cause and contributed in their own way, most recent-ly with a head shave event. Like Geleta, Murray says she can’t stop. With the final head shave event, they have raised more than $27,000 and she wants to continue. “As Andy is continuing her battle, we’re going to keep going,” she says.

The Foundation supports every single clinical trial that takes place in Alberta, and more than 200,000 do-nors allow the Foundation to invest in programs and research, launch more than 50 new research projects,

the connective tissue of the breast, rather than the ducts. The young mother of two has undergone over 25 surgeries since she was diagnosed, and has recently begun another round of chemother-apy. In January, An-drea put up a post on Facebook saying her cancer had returned and she was going to “kick cancer’s ass.” That was Murray’s in-spiration. Their team’s rallying cry, “Do Something” was actually her mother’s idea, says Murray, a yoga instructor and mom of two.

“I learned from Andrea to be courageous, no matter what, and embrace life,” says Murray. “She has such a spirit and joy about her, no matter what happens. It is so inspiring. How many times you just sit there wondering ‘what you can do?’ But everybody can do something.”

Murray began directing all the proceeds from her

Cancer screening, awareness campaigns and excellent medical care have contributed to decreasing rates of one per cent until from

2002 to 2010, with mortality rates falling by 2.8 per cent every year from 2004 to 2010.

CANCER awareness

FAMILY AFFAIR: From left, Danielle Murray, Barb Lambert and Sherry Guenette. The grand-mother, mother and daughter trio took the head shave challenge for a family member at a fundraising event in Whitecourt.

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and support hundreds of existing programs with ongo-ing funding. And it wasn’t that hard, says Murray. “I was just giving my time. If that can save someone an ounce of pain or help them through what they are going through, what we are doing is so small compared to the heroes that you meet every day.”

Many volunteers join the movement in honour of someone. Some, like volunteers Breanne Kraus and Kirsten Borle, just want to do what they can for future generations. Borle was one of hundreds of volunteers at Edmonton’s Bust a Move for Breast Health event this past March, a six-hour fitness and dance extravaganza that kept participants moving, sweating and dancing to raise funds for the Alberta Cancer Foundation in support of Cross Cancer Institute. Participants came in tutus, span-dex and boas to jump around in a step class, or breathe deeply with a yoga master or capitalize on a free massage. In order to participate, teams needed to fundraise an av-erage $1,000 per person.

Both women say the drive, energy and love shared

among the participants was awe-inspiring. Best of all, Bust a Move raised more than $400,000 this year. “It’s a wonderful way to give back,” says Kraus. “The disease is so common it touches so many different lives. It’s also a wonderful event; it just felt so great to be a part of it.”

Thanks in part to advances in research and early diagnosis, the rate of cancer deaths and diagnosis for Albertans continues to fall. Cancer screening, aware-ness campaigns and excellent medical care have con-tributed to decreasing death rates by one per cent until from 2002 to 2010, with mortality rates falling by 2.8 per cent every year from 2004 to 2010. But breast, prostate, lung and colorectal cancers still account for 53 per cent of new diagnoses, and one in four Albertans will succumb to the disease. If something does turn up, Kathie Geleta’s advice is to take it one day at a time:

“Stay positive,” she says. “Don’t cross bridges that hav-en’t been built, become knowledgeable but not excessive-ly. Be your own health advocate in any situation. Do not let what you can’t do interfere with what you can do.”

MOVERS AND SHAKERS: This year’s Bust a Move for Breast Health raised more than $400,000, thanks to volunteers like Kirsten Borle (bottom left) and Breanne Kraus (centre).



COMFORTING WORDS: Sue Witcher has found solace in attending Wellspring Calgary two or three times a week for programs, or to just curl up and read in the facility’s library.


Wellspring Calgary is expanding its services to better support those living with cancer

HOME

HOME


Acancer diagnosis is a time of fear, uncertainty and isolation for both the person diagnosed and his or her loved ones. But thanks to

Wellspring Calgary and its educational and supportive programs, no one needs to face this experience alone.

As more people survive cancer, demand for services like Wellspring is increasing. Each week, 20-25 new members walk through the doors at Wellspring Calgary to access the comprehensive programs that are free thanks to donors and successful fundraising efforts. According to Wellspring’s executive director, Patti Morris, the facility is some-times oversubscribed, and they must rent community space to offer programs. Despite the demand, “Wellspring has never had to turn anyone away. We are always considering the best way to meet the outstanding needs we know are out there,” Morris says.

Recognizing both the value and the need for these services, the Alberta Cancer Foundation has invested $213,000 to help Wellspring Calgary expand its programs and services over the next year. “We are overwhelmed by their interest in this strategic partnership,” says Morris.

Although treatment centres provide valuable psycho social services, these needs continue after a person leaves the hospital, and that is where Wellspring Calgary steps in. Careful not to duplicate services, Wellspring Calgary offers more than 20,000 hours of programming each year, making it the busiest Wellspring centre in Canada. Well-spring Calgary’s programs focus on education, exercise, movement and expressive arts. They also offer a speaker series featuring experts who share the latest knowledge on a wide variety of topics.

Joining Wellspring is as easy as arriving at Wellspring Calgary’s Carma House and taking a tour of the two-storey house nestled in a retreat-like setting. Membership does not require a referral. Wellspring Calgary supports members from the day of diagnosis through treatment and post treatment, when they are picking up the pieces of their lives.

Members come from a variety of age groups, including young adults (between the ages of 18 and 39) like Donna Rasmussen, who was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive cancer, Mediastinal large B Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma at age 36. She says that at first she felt a bit out of place due to her age. “Once I started to get to know them it didn’t matter, the shared experience supersedes the age difference. The benefits far outweigh any uncomfortable feelings at the beginning.”

Although she did not meet anyone else with the same diagnosis, Rasmussen says that

wasn’t necessary to feel a connection. In addition to the connection at Wellspring Calgary she felt, “just having something in my schedule was helpful.”

During treatment, Rasmussen attended Wellspring whenever she felt able to go. She accessed programs such as Reiki, Healing Touch and Healing Journey. “I felt safe at Wellspring because everyone is so involved with people with cancer, they were sensitive to our physical comfort and the place was so clean, which is an issue when people have immune system issues.” Now in full remission and back working full-time, Rasmussen says

she would continue to at-tend if Wellspring was open on Sundays.

For members like Sue Witcher, the cancer jour-ney is ongoing. Diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, an incurable blood cancer, she

will always require treatment. Witcher began attending Wellspring almost immediately. “I met people who had the same thing. I loved the place, this beautiful home that is so welcoming.”

At first, Witcher believed she could not attend The Healing Journey Program because her cancer is incur-able. The program, a popular and practical one at Well-spring, provides tools to calm the mind and promote health for both people with cancer and caregivers. It is just one of many programs Witcher has attended. She visits Wellspring two or three times a week and says it helps her deal with the fear and uncertainty of living with cancer. “When I come home I feel empowered, inspired and hopeful.”

Witcher has sampled most of the programs offered at Wellspring. “There is not a class I haven’t enjoyed,” she says. For anyone not feeling up to participating in

“I never thought of doing these things for myself before cancer. The centre is a gift, a place to go and heal. It’s upbeat and anyone who has been touched by cancer is welcome,” says Sue Witcher.

Away From

BY SUE LEBRETON / PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN BUCHSDREUCKER



programs, there are other options as well. Sometimes, Witcher curls up in the well-stocked library and reads, or just sits peacefully and enjoys the beautiful views of na-ture enveloping the space.

Although no one would choose a cancer diagnosis, Witcher has found a gift in the experience. “I never thought of doing these things for myself before cancer,” she says. She describes Wellspring as a happy place. “The centre is a gift, a place to go and heal. It’s upbeat and any-one who has been touched by cancer is welcome.”

Cancer touches caregivers as well, and they can attend any Wellspring Calgary program. The Caregivers Only program provides respite education and helps loved ones recognize and accept the challenging nature of their role. Christina Poniecki has attended the caregivers’ session and several programs with her mom, for whom she has taken on a caregiving role since her mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She appreciates the atmosphere. “It feels like a home thanks to the staff focusing on us so per-sonally. It is like being welcomed at a relative’s house,” she says.

Poniecki attends programs with her mom, who isn’t physically able to go alone. The programs have strength-ened their bond. She also feels that assuming the caregiv-ing role has allowed her to give back to her mother. “Our relationship feels more balanced. She was difficult to give to and she’s been giving to us all her life. I’m glad to be part of her learning. To be truly whole we to need to be able to do both – give and receive.”

Echoing the sentiments of many, Poniecki says, “It helps to know you are not the only one who feels pain, fear and grief. Being together in this vulnerable way is heart nourishment for us all.”

This heart-and-soul nourishment was key to Daryl Moldenhauer’s success. Diagnosed in 2008 with esoph-ageal cancer, Moldenhauer’s prognosis was dismal. “But I just had my five-year check-up,” he says. “I attribute much of my success to Wellspring.”

Moldenhauer joined Wellspring soon after diagnosis. “I needed every edge I could get,” he says. “I could see there was a lot more to recovering from cancer than the physical aspect. I had a lot of fear and anxiety but I felt

this was a safe place as soon as I walked in.” He had several healing touch treatments but due to complications after his surgery Moldenhauer was in the intensive care unit (ICU) for months. “Two healing touch practitioners came into the ICU to do more treat-ments. I cannot say enough about their commitment and dedication to the members of Wellspring.”

As a man, Moldenhauer was a minority at Wellspring Calgary. “It was a bit uncom-fortable in the beginning but that has left me,” he says. “Now, I’m just part of the group.” That group has supported him as he eased back into the workforce with the help of Well-spring’s Return to Work program.

Now an active member post-treatment, Moldenhauer visits Wellspring two or three times a week. His advice to others: “Wellspring programs can improve our outcomes. Healing from the emotional and spiritual aspects of cancer just increases our odds.”

CARING COUNSELLOR: Wellspring’s executive director, Patti Morris speaks with a member at Carma House.

GOOD CARMA: Joining Wellspring is as easy as arriving at Carma House.


Lindisfarne Productions and the Alberta Cancer Foundation turn a lens on cancer, capturing how research dollars make a difference

MOVING PICTURES

Those who have participated in Bust a Move for Breast Health (BaM) – the six-hour fitness fundraiser that sees hundreds sweat it out in the name of raising money for the Alberta Cancer Foundation and cancer research – have witnessed the creative genius of Lindis-farne Productions at work.

“We started working with the Alberta Cancer Foun-dation before Bust a Move was even in Edmonton, and once Bust a Move came around, we really started doing a lot of work,” says Sheena Moore, whose expertise is behind the planning, interviewing, shooting and pro-duction of dozens of sponsor videos for Bust a Move. Lindisfarne also donates the final product. Ranging from hard-hitting to whimsical, the 20-plus videos made over the past three years are as much a part of Bust a Move as the Zumba, yoga and fitness classes held throughout the day-long annual March event.

Lindisfarne also features a video of themselves of each year and consistently pushes the envelope – from lip syncing “Video Killed the Radiostar,” to a comedic yoga skit. They also participated on the dance and exer-cise floor in two out of the three years Bust a Move has been in existence and their whole team sweated it out on the floor this year.

Moore says getting involved as a volunteer partner several years back, alongside Lindisfarne’s owner Si-mon Morgan, just seemed like the right thing to do. “For me, it was just a really good fit for us to work with Bust a Move,” says Moore. “We do get to be really creative with these videos and have some fun.”

“With PCL, for example, we are dealing with a serious company with senior level managers – and they’re wear-ing tutus [in their video],” adds Moore. “It gives us a different relationship with local businesses, and I think they have a lot of fun working with us, too. So it is a two-way street. Yes, we are donating our time, but we enjoy it. Our staff members love working on Bust a Move.”

Morgan agrees: “I think most people have been touched by cancer in some way,” he says. “I have had a lot of family and friends personally affected by cancer. At Lindisfarne, we all feel very blessed to work with the Alberta Cancer Foundation [to] help share the stories of people who have been touched by them.”

Lindisfarne was also the machine behind the Bust a Move “lip-dub” video. The video features staff, re-searchers, doctors and patients at the Cross Cancer In-stitute mixing it up to the sound of rapper Young MC’s

hit song, to raise awareness for the first Edmonton Bust a Move in 2012. “Working on the lip dub video was really amazing. They involved the researchers and oncologists – everybody from the team,” explains Moore. “I don’t think the Cross Cancer Institute has ever done anything like that before. It’s not often that they get to do fun things in that building; seeing them all let loose was pretty exciting for us. And then the buzz that created for the event was wicked. It was neat to see the video help with that.”

Lindisfarne is also the Alberta Cancer Foundation’s go-to production company for its “Report to Donor” videos, which typically feature an Albertan living with cancer whose life and the lives of family members have been impacted by the Alberta Cancer Foundation’s work. Morgan says that aspect of his paid work, though at times difficult, is also rewarding. “It makes us feel great to think that anything we are doing may help raise awareness about cancer,” Morgan says. “We have very few projects that enable us to give back to such a worthy cause. Working with the Alberta Cancer Foundation over the past few years has really given us a new perspective on things – and we look forward to every new project that comes up.”

With the way the partnership has worked out so far, both with BaM and the “Report to Donor” videos, Lindisfarne and the Alberta Cancer Foundation are keen to keep working together, says Moore. “For us it’s worthwhile because we get to share all of those stories, and if we can be a small part of it – this is the only way we know how. We are happy to do that.”

BY SHELLEY WILLIAMSON / PHOTOGRAPHY BY DAVID BARON

working for a causeCorporate Giving •


FREEZE FRAME: For more information about Lindisfarne Productions or its work with the Alberta Cancer Foundation, visit showtellmove.com, or to watch its Bust a Move “lip dub” video, click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTfQHJStpF0

ON THE MOVE: Sheena Moore and Brittany Black (foreground) of Lindisfarne Productions, the company behind Bust a Move’s sponsor videos, edit some footage.



ABORIGINAL ADVOCATE: Dr. Angeline Letendre is leading the way in Aboriginal cancer care in Alberta.


Top Job



BY ELIZABETH HAMES / PHOTO BY BRIAN BUCHSDRUECKER

Dr. Angeline Letendre is heading the way in consultative approaches to Aboriginal oncology research

Before she became one of Alberta’s top Aboriginal cancer care researchers, before she became the first Aboriginal person to graduate from her PhD nursing program, Dr.

Angeline Letendre was a beautician.As a teenager growing up in Lac St. Anne, 75 kilome-

tres west of Edmonton, she dropped out of high school at 15. Pulling in a paycheque just seemed more important than a diploma. “That was in the ’70s,” says Letendre. “You could get a job at a really early age. Alberta was booming at that time.”

But in 1989, after more than a decade spent cutting hair, and when the economic strain of single motherhood be-came too taxing, she went back to school. Of Cree-Metis heritage, Letendre had always wanted to have a job that would allow her to work with Aboriginal people. So nurs-ing “just seemed like a natural fit,” she says.

Today, Letendre is leading the way in consultative approaches to Aboriginal cancer care research in Alberta. Shirking the “helicopter” style of research of her predecessors, Letendre has adopted a model based on community participation. Her aim is simple: to improve the health of Aboriginal peoples. And that means working with communities to develop and implement strategies for care.

LEADERA Natural

“From Aboriginal cultural perspectives, an individual’s actions, the decisions that they will make, traditionally would take the collective into consideration,” she says. “If you want to work at the community level, you have to establish those relationships. You have to work from a place that acknowledges the importance of the commu-nity and the collective.

Going back to school was nerve-wracking for Letendre. She applied to all three nurs-ing schools in Edmonton at the time, but she feared her inex-perience with post-secondary education would preclude her from being accepted to any, let

alone her top choice: the University of Alberta. Her anx-iety proved unfounded. Each school offered her a spot. “I guess my desire to be in that profession must have come through in my applications,” she says.

Mature students often face difficulties when returning to school after so many years without tests or homework. But for Letendre, the real challenge came not in the aca-demics, but in social isolation. As one of the only Aborigi-nal people in her program, Letendre was shocked to hear the negative ways some of her peers talked about First Nations, Inuit and Metis people.

“We always have conversations about Aboriginal populations when we talk about FASD (Fetal Alcohol

“There’s not an engagement with a community or an

individual where I do not learn something. For me it’s

satisfying and exciting work.”


000Leap-Province-FP.indd 1 2014-05-20 8:25 AM

Top Job


“We know that as people. If we create a healthy environment

physically, mentally emotionally and spiritually, in our homes, our children

will be healthy as well.”

Spectrum Disorder), addictions and social problems,” she says. Whenever the conversation turned to Aborig-inal peoples, the entire class looked at her expectantly. “How can one individual speak on behalf of an entire population? You can’t,” she says. “But you’re put in that situation an awful lot.”

Letendre responded to isolation among her peers by seeking out opportunities to work with Aborigi-nal peoples. In that search, she found work assisting the health director of the Yellowhead Tribal Council (YTC) of Alberta as part of one of her first practicums. The health director of the YTC was unhappy with a needs assessment report that looked at cancer care needs of the five communities that belong to the YTC. “It just was not reported in the respectful way it should have been,” Letendre says.

But it did offer some valuable insight. So the direc-tor hired Letendre to consult with community members and draft a new report. She spent her practicum in talking circles with community members and local health-care professionals, listening to their ideas, con-cerns and stories about cancer.

“The experience was just phe-nomenal,” she says. Through this experience, she came to understand the impor-tance of seeking out the perspectives of the communi-ties when research health among Aboriginal peoples, she says.

Once she began working as a registered nurse in 1991, Letendre found that neither researchers nor health-care professionals could tell her which health care programs Aboriginal peoples were most likely, or able, to access. So she decided to find out for herself. Once again, she headed back to school. This time it was for a master’s degree in community health, and later a PhD, at the University of Alberta.

It was during her graduate work that Dr. Malcolm King first noticed Letendre’s talent for bringing people together. She had volunteered to organize a conference on Aboriginal health research funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, where King worked.

“It was a huge success,” he says. “It resulted in some important and long-lasting connections, which are really important, at a peer level.” King would later su-pervise her doctoral thesis, which focused on cervical cancer among Aboriginal women. She graduated in 2008, becoming the first Aboriginal person to earn a PhD from the University of Alberta.

Around that time, King accepted a position as the first scientific director of the CIHR’s newly-formed In-stitute for Aboriginal Peoples, and he was looking for an associate director. He could think of no one more qualified than Letendre, who jumped in with both feet, taking the lead on organizing a series of conferences that brought together Aboriginal peoples from com-munities across the country.


Up until that point, researchers rarely consulted anyone without qualifications about how research could be used to address health issues in Aborigi-nal communities, says King. So-called “helicopter research” was common practice. In this style of re-search, researchers sometimes literally helicopter into communities, gather information and are never heard from again.

“So really this is quite different,” says King. “This is recognizing that people in communities who ar-en’t necessarily equipped with doctorates actually can come up with the approaches and solutions to re-search on health issues the community faces.”

Through these conferences, Letendre and King drafted a report that offered a rich sense of the most significant health issues facing Aboriginal people in Canada, and how the institute’s future research might

address those issues. But Le-tendre says it doesn’t take a research paper to realize the most important tool for im-proving the health of the indi-vidual is a healthy community.

“We know that as people. If we create a healthy environ-ment physically, mentally emo-tionally and spiritually, in our

homes, our children will be healthy as well,” she says.In 2011, Letendre brought her focus on commu-

nity consultation into her job as the provincial co-ordinator for Alberta Health Services’ Community Oncology program. In that role, she worked to improve access to cancer care among Aboriginal people in the province, which required her to estab-lish trusting relationships with the people who live in those communities.

While Letendre says her work has had a positive impact on communities, the community members have also had an impact on her.

“I have a great respect and admiration for the sur-vival, the resiliency, and the cultures, the diversity of these peoples,” she says. “There’s not an engage-ment with a community or an individual where I do not learn something. For me it’s satisfying and excit-ing work.”

It’s just the kind of satisfying work Letendre imag-ined for herself when she left her job as a beautician to go to nursing school 25 years ago. She says it has been a whirlwind quarter-century, and she’s not ready to slow down. In March, she accepted a position as scientific lead for the community innovation team with the Alberta Cancer Prevention Legacy Fund, a $25-million annual fund established by the province of Alberta in 2006 to support prevention, screening and research.

Letendre will take an arms-length role with community oncology as she transitions into her new job helping the fund integrate its research and pre-vention components. “I’m pretty excited about that,” she says.


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Albertan tattoo artist offers reconstructive therapy for

breast cancer survivors

BY L. SARA BYSTERVELD


Under



t was a turning point in Stacie-Rae Weir’s tattooing career. A traditional tattoo artist by trade, Calgary-based Weir has made her name reconstructing nipples and

areolae for women who have had mastectomies. After study-ing the areola reconstruction process for six months, Weir’s first client was her friend Melanie Hayden-Sparks.

I


“I told her, ‘Let me know how is this affecting you?’ ” says Weir, of that pivotal mo-ment. “And she told me, ‘I had no idea that such a big part of me was missing. I had no idea that I was feeling this much of a void in my life.’ And then as soon as she looked in the mirror, she said, ‘Right, I’m a woman. I have been a woman all along. I forgot.’ You become a patient, you know?”

Hayden-Sparks’ response to Weir’s work sparked the desire to offer the service to everyone who wanted it. “Bring ’em all on,” Weir says. “I want to do this solely. If this can make that big of a difference for you, for anybody, then this is all I want to do.” That was almost four years ago. Since then, Weir has reconstructed areolae and nipples for many wom-en, offering an alternative to in-of-fice tattooing services offered by surgical teams. She calls her service Hope Eternal Areola Reconstruc-tive Tattoo services, or H.E.A.R.T. for short.

For many women, says Weir, the experience is similar to what Hayden-Sparks de-scribes as her own: the room is filled by the woman, her loved ones and Weir, and to-gether they laugh and cry through the process.

“I didn’t know how much this would mean to me,” Hayden-Sparks says. “They had taken away the part (of my body) that makes me feel like a woman, that I fed my chil-dren with. This was the final step to putting the cancer behind me.”

Weir describes this as a common reaction for many of her clients, and one of the main reasons she loves her work. One woman called her in tears the day after she had her tattoos done, she says, to tell her that she’d made love to her husband with the lights on for the first time.

“Feeling good about our sexuality is such a huge thing. A lot of the women who are coming to me, who are getting mastectomies, are in their 30s. In their 30s! We’re just entering our prime (at that age). We’re getting over the self-consciousness of being in our 20s. Not having had that time with our sexuality is a huge hindrance to the recov-ery process, I think.”

Weir is working to help her H.E.A.R.T. clients tie their tattoo process to their heal-ing process. “I have master level Reiki and use the energy healing modality to not only calm and relax the client, but to empower the emotional healing that this visual stimu-lation can provide. Seeing a realistic-looking nipple returns the woman to a time when her body was whole and healthy, before it was altered by surgeries and treatment. This helps her to regain a sense of confidence, and I find Reiki energy strengthens this fact in the subconscious mind.”

Weir met Hayden-Sparks as she herself began her own journey through a mastectomy and breast recon-struction. Weir’s mother had tested positive for the BRCA1 gene, and died of cancer. Weir describes herself as “my mother through and through,” and based on this knowledge she had herself tested for the gene – she test-ed positive. When it was suggested to her that she may want to consider a mastectomy, she says she felt like she had just been handed a “Get out of Jail Free” card.

Through her own process of breast reconstruction, Weir came to believe that there was a need for high qual-ity tattooing services for areola reconstruction.

Areola and nipple tattooing is a service that is some-times offered by plastic surgeons who perform breast re-constructive surgery. The process may be performed by the surgeon, but the cosmetic tattoo training specifically needed for nipple and areola tattooing is also available to others, like nurses and cosmetic tattoo technicians.

Of the women who have had their breasts surgical-ly reconstructed following mastectomy, 15-20 per cent choose to have their nipple and areola reconstructed and tattooed, according to Dr. John Beveridge, a plastic surgeon specializing in hand and breast reconstruction in Calgary.

Women who have their areolae or nipples tattooed in the clinic setting receive coverage for the service from Alberta Health Services, but those who choose to have them done by a private artist such as Weir do not receive any coverage – a fact that both Weir and Hayden-Sparks consider to be a shame.

“I will do whatever I have to do to get Alberta Health Services to cover highly trained tattoo artists to do this work,” says Hayden-Sparks. When talking to any woman who is planning for or considering a mastectomy, she strongly recommends taking photos of their own breasts before the procedure. In these photos, she says to include close-ups shots and different

angles of the nipples. “What is the colour? What is the shape? A gifted artist

can give this back to you,” she says.Currently Weir tattoos two or three clients per week

for H.E.A.R.T., but she says she has the capacity for more. She continues to serve traditional tattoo clients as well but hopes to find a way to work solely in nipple and areola tattooing in the future.

Though Weir currently charges “a very competitive rate” of $300, “mainly to support educating people on the difference quality can make,” she says, she has now made it her mission to advocate for Alberta Health Services coverage of areola tattoos by traditional tattoo artists.

“When I first got into tattooing, there was no woman tattooing in Canada that I had heard of, that had been to art school like I had, that had done a professional ap-prenticeship like I had,” she says. “I kind of blazed that trail, so I don’t mind blazing this one.”

“There is a need for this. If that need requires a voice, I have a voice. I don’t mind being the one to say, ‘Yeah, reject me, but there’s still a need. We have to do the best that we can do for these women.’ ”


“There is a need for this. If that need requires a voice, I have a voice. I don’t mind

being the one to say, ‘Yeah, reject me, but there’s still a need.’ We have to do the best

that we can do for these women.’”



ate W. Mak was hooked on yoga from the start – so hooked that she started teaching it. Today, seven years later, she seems to embody what one would expect of any yogi: peace, positivity, fitness and a friendly, accepting

demeanor. When she first stepped onto the mat, though, it was for the same reason many people turn to any fitness pursuit – to get in shape for an impending beach vacation.

Mak was working in neurological science at the time, spending hours in the lab studying the effects of two specific genes on acute T-cell leukemia.

Think yoga’s too intimidating to start practising? Think again

K

STRETCH IT O U T

BY L. SARA BYSTERVELD



“Yoga is a community that is very loving and very accepting. They ultimately want

you to live the very best version of your life, whatever that means, and just support

you in getting there.”

Her first foray into yoga showed her “a sense of peace and serenity,” and an opportunity to let everything go for a period of time while she practised. She also quickly found what she felt had been missing from her mostly solitary life in the lab.

“What kept me coming back was the sense of community. I would come to class and there would be five people I had met through the studio, and they now are my friends,” she says of that early time in her yoga practice. She adds, “Especially in cities, we be-come very segregated, and very isolated, and yoga is a way of connecting with others and with yourself, as well.”

Mak describes herself as a social person, and she was realizing that she wasn’t hap-py in the lab where there was so little human interaction. A couple of years later, when friends opened a yoga studio of their own and offered her a job teaching there, she re-alized, “either I was going to continue being unhappy, or I could give this a go.”

Though yoga has existed for more than 5,000 years (according to the American Yoga Association, it predates written history), it only began to slow-ly spread across North America a little over a century ago. Nowadays, it’s a well-known staple of the western fitness world, and with that comes not just gen-eral public knowledge, but also a variety of misconceptions.

Everyone knows someone who practices yoga, and who probably talks about how great it makes them feel. And yet, many people who would be interested to try the prac-tice themselves do not do so. What’s holding them back?

Jackie Clark, a yoga teacher in Edmonton, has observed that for some, the reason they don’t brave the yoga studio is a belief that they’re “too fat” or “not flexible enough.” For

others, as was the case with Clark when she began attend-ing yoga classes at a studio, it’s the “mystery of the spiri-tuality. Some people may think yoga is a religion.”

Though she had dabbled in yoga at home, letting vid-eos and DVDs guide her, a friend had asked her to come along to a studio class. It was 2004 and Clark’s father had recently died. She was feeling lost.

After that first class, she says, “I was hooked. I felt calm. For those few minutes you have a chance to just tune everything out. There is a clarity that comes from connecting with your breath.”

She was, however, in-timidated by the spiritual aspect of the classes. In the ashtanga classes she was at-tending, “they would prac-tise an invocation at the be-ginning – and I didn’t know if that resonated with me.”

The conclusion she eventually reached is the

same advice she offers newcomers who might be feeling nervous in the same way. “You have a choice when you step into a class or onto the mat. You can ‘Om,’ or you can stay silent. You choose which aspects of yoga you want to take into your life.”

Another common worry for yoga newbies is that they



don’t fit the physical mold of a yogi. Mak points out that peo-ple in a yoga class aren’t paying any attention to one anoth-er’s bodies; they are too busy focusing on their own practice.

“Yoga is a community that is very loving and very ac-cepting,” says Mak. “They ultimately want you to live the very best version of your life, whatever that means, and just support you in getting there.”

As Clark tells people who are afraid to attend a class because they believe they aren’t flexible enough, “you can’t get more flexible unless you come to class.”

So where to start, then? Both teachers recommend learning about yoga first, and point to online magazine yogajournal.com as a great starting point. The site contains a wealth of information, ranging from an index of basic poses and an advice column for beginners, to fitness and mindfulness challenges, to downloads and feature articles.

Newcomers looking to try yoga should research the dif-ferent types of yoga, both Mak and Clark agree. “Ask your-self what you’re looking to get out of yoga,” says Mak. “Are you looking for relaxation? Are you looking for health? Are you looking for flexibility, or strengthening, or something to complement running or cycling or weight training?”

Choosing between heated and non-heated, power yoga, or a more relaxing style of yoga, will depend largely on a given person’s goals. Clark recommends approach-ing friends who are already practising yoga. “Somebody in your life probably does yoga. Ask them questions; get

a sense of what their experience was in the beginning.” Consider attending a class with a friend, she says. She encourages people who are just getting started to try a variety of types of yoga before deciding whether yoga is for them.

Mak advises that most studios now offer an introductory pass which allows the pass holder to take unlimited classes for a week or a month, and some also offer a registered beginners class series.

“Some of the (non-beginner) classes that I teach can fill up to 50 people,” she says. “If you’re brand new, and you’re one out of 50, it’s going to be harder for me to keep an eye on you than if you’re part of a much smaller group.”

Both instructors recommend calling ahead if you are unsure and asking questions about the classes, the studio and the teachers. They also agree that beginners are best-served starting with instruction from a qualified teacher. Getting started in yoga doesn’t present much of a cost – a simple yoga mat from any general sporting goods or outlet store, and some comfortable athletic clothes that you are able to fully stretch in – and it’s not complicated. But it is best, the two teachers advise, to get started with a qualified instructor to avoid getting used to practising a pose out of alignment.

“When you’re practising without somebody that’s actually looking at your body, you may be practising with your hip out of alignment, and then you will get used to practis-ing in that shape,” explains Mak.

Mak adds that anyone with health concerns should consult a doctor before getting started. Issues such as high blood pressure, low immune function and herniated or bulging discs may dictate the type of yoga that is best suited to the person who is inter-ested in starting out. She recommends that people who do not have a yoga studio with-in a reachable distance practice carefully at home, perhaps following the instruction of “world renowned teachers” via the website yogajournal.com.

“Err on the side of caution when practising without a teacher,” she says. “If it hurts, pinches or feels off ... Stop, try not to force it and back off, if not exit the pose entirely.”



Dr. Christine Friedenreich is a woman on a mission. A trailblazer in the field of cancer research, she is making epic strides that prove physical activity can help reduce the risk of some cancers

Research Rockstar

Research in Motion

Research Rockstar

BY PAT FREAM / PHOTOS BY COOPER & O’HARA




r. Christine Friedenreich doesn’t write prescriptions but if she did, she’d probably tell you to take a hike. For real.

Barely able to contain her vast invento-ry of knowledge, and eager to share astonishing results, the renowned researcher can tell you multiple reasons why physical activity is good for you. The main benefit – the one she has devoted hundreds of thousands of hours to – is cancer prevention.

“There have been nearly 100 studies done that look at physical activity and its effects on breast cancer,” says Friedenreich, scientific leader at Alberta Health Ser-vices and a professor at the University of Calgary. “They confirm a measurable 25 to 30 per cent decrease in risk when comparing people who are most active versus people who are less active.”

For nearly three decades, the prominent researcher has devoted herself to studies targeting cancer preven-tion. Her goal: to reduce the odds of people developing cancer by intervening early enough to change some of the modifiable risk factors that influence the onset or promotion of cancers.

“There are so many risks we can’t control – genetics, environmental factors, aging. I’m studying modifiable lifestyle risk factors, things you can change – things you have control over,” says Friedenreich.

She first set out to dissect a critical piece of the cancer puzzle in 1986, by studying the relationship between smoking and cancer. That study, nearly 30 years ago, showed that even if you could reduce smoking preva-lence rates by two to five per cent per year, you could increase life expectancy by up to two years.

Next, Friedenreich went on to explore how diet, lifestyle and environmental factors impact risk of can-cer and chronic disease, completing her post-doctoral fellowship at the International Agency for Research on Cancer (a division of the World Health Organization) based in Lyon, France. While in France, Friedenreich helped spearhead the European Prospective Investiga-tion into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study – a massive cohort study of 522,000 people across 10 European countries, which has resulted in hundreds of research papers that have demonstrated the role of diet, lifestyle and other factors in cancer causation.

After an exhilarating year abroad, Friedenreich and her husband landed in Calgary, where she met Kerry Courneya, an exercise psychologist who worked at the University of Calgary.

“We started doing research together and quickly identified gaps in the literature on how physical activity is related to the risk of developing cancer, how it can be

used to help people cope with cancer treatments, how it can help rehabilitate after cancer, and how it can improve the overall rate of survival,” says Friedenreich.

Motivated by compelling results which show that physical activity can have a pro-found effect on various types of cancers, Friedenreich and Courneya embarked on a mission to develop a set of guidelines indicating the precise dose, nature and timing of physical activity that offers optimum cancer fighting benefits. Furthermore, the pair set out to explore the measurable benefits of physical activity during cancer treat-ment, and its potential impact on cancer survival.

Friedenreich first developed and published a questionnaire called the Lifetime Total Physical Activity Questionnaire – a tool the team could use in studies measuring the relationship between physical activity and cancers of the breast, prostate and endometrium (uterus).

In their first case-control study of breast cancer, they studied women’s lifetime ac-tivity levels, and discovered that post-menopausal women who had a lifelong history of regular exercise had decreased rates of breast cancer of around 42 per cent. Alterna-

D


Research Rockstar

“So far our results show that any amount of activity is better than none, but more intense activity

more often is better.”

PRESTIGIOUS POST: In addition to her roles as professor at the University of Calgary and scientific leader at Alberta Health Services, Dr. Christine Friedenreich is also the Alberta Cancer Foundation’s Weekend to End Women’s Cancers chair in Breast Cancer Research.


tively, women who started exercising later in life (after the onset of menopause) had a surprisingly-similar decreased risk of 40 per cent.

“These were really interesting results,” says Friedenreich. “The important message is, physical activity is incredibly beneficial to your health and it’s never too late to start.”

Next came the ALPHA Trial (Alberta Physical Activity and Breast Cancer Preven-tion Trial) that began in 2003, a study of 320 post-menopausal women that examined how a year-long exercise program could reduce breast cancer risk. The ALPHA Trial showed that aerobic exercise reduced many biomarkers associated with breast cancer risk. It also revealed that these biomarkers changed even more with higher levels of exercise. Subsequently, her BETA trial (Breast Cancer and Exercise Trial in Alberta) in 2010, studied 400 women to explore how the amount, intensity and frequency of exercise impact cancer prevention. Partially-funded by the Alberta Cancer Founda-tion, the BETA Trial results are currently being analyzed and will enable Friedenreich and her team to devise public health guidelines outlining the optimum prescription of physical activity to aid in cancer prevention.

“So far our results show that any amount of activity is better than none, but more intense activity more often is better,” says Friedenreich.

Friedenreich and her team are now embarking on the final frontier of their research, with the AMBER study (Alberta Moving Beyond Breast Cancer). The study involves 1,500 newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients, and examines how physical activity and physical fitness influences survival after cancer.

“All of these studies involve exercise, but we don’t like to use the word exercise because that can put people off. We prefer to call it physical activity – encompassing movement of any kind,” she says.

Friedenreich points out that on any given day, aside from eight hours of sleep, and potentially 30 minutes of exercise, people could find themselves sedentary for more than 15 hours. She has joined the call to action, advocating for an even or gradual shift

from sedentary behaviour to light activity. “Get up and unload the dishwasher, go outside and do some garden-ing, have your meetings while walking,” she says. “Any kind of movement is better than none.”

Recently, Friedenreich found out she is the recipient of the 2013 O. Harold Warwick Prize. Named after a pioneering cancer researcher and presented by the Canadian Cancer Society, this prestigious award recog-nizes scientists who have made a major contribution to cancer control research.

Friedenreich is happy she chose to work in a field that has such immediate and direct applications, with benefits that have been so clearly documented across multiple diseases. She describes her work as empowering.

“Cancer scares people; makes them feel like they’re losing control over their lives,” she says. “In my field we have the opportunity to give people back some measure of control; empower them to make choices that can make measurable differences in their lives.”

“The important message is, physical activity is incredibly

beneficial to your health and it’s never too late to start!”

Register today and help the Alberta Cancer Foundation deliver results for cancer patients at the Jack Ady Cancer Centre in Lethbridge, faster

July 26, 2014

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Thank you Dierk Rambali Soccer Marathon donors, volunteers, and participants! You are delivering results for Red Deer cancer patients at the Central Alberta Cancer Centre. Congratulations on another successful year!

Research Rockstar

What’s it like to be a leading Alberta researcher?I’ve always said the only thing holding me back is my own imagination. I’ve worked in lots of other large centres but I feel like here we have the infrastructure and the opportunities to do some incredible leading edge work. We are recognized as leaders in the world for some of the research we’ve done right here in Alberta.

Can we have a peek into your personal life? I met my husband while we were both under-graduate students at Queen’s University. We were married in 1986 and four years later we moved to France while I worked on my post- doctoral fellowship. Then he accepted a position in Calgary that brought us to Alberta. We have two wonderful daughters, the eldest is away doing an undergraduate degree at Queen’s Uni-versity and my younger daughter is in Grade 11 at Western High School.

Q and a with dr. Christine FriedenreiCh

How does physical activity factor into your busy life?I have been active all my life. My husband and I have done lots of backpack-ing and trekking in Nepal and we’ve taken our girls on some wonderful long hikes in Switzerland, including the Via Alpina and the Monte Rosa Tour. Hik-ing in the Swiss and Italian Alps is spectacular!

At this point in your career, what are your priorities?I think there’s a responsibility to mentor young people and help them with their careers, so I’ve done a lot of that and training of graduate students, I see that as an extremely important part of my role. Also, I’m trying to build more effective alliances with other groups within Alberta Health Services who are working in cancer epidemiology and prevention areas.

What are your goals for the next five years?I’m hoping that with the definitive data from the BETA trial and the AMBER study we’ll be able to provide guidelines for exercise prescriptions for cancer prevention and for cancer survival outcomes. I’m 54 now, I expect by age 60 I’ll be thinking about stepping aside. I think it’s important for investigators like me to move on and make room for the bright, ambitious young people coming up behind us.



Charitable Edmonton couple recognizes their family’s history of ‘spectacular care’ at the Cross Cancer Institute with $100,000 donation for lymphoma research

BY COLLEEN BIONDI

CLOSE TO HOME

stories of givingwhy I donate /

ary Agnes and Ivan Radostits of Edmonton have always been very in-volved in their community. Mary Agnes, 75, a former physiotherapist, was one of

the founding board members of the Glenrose Hospi-tal Foundation and volunteered for years at her local church. Ivan, also 75, and a long-term businessman in the grocery industry, spent significant time with the Jaycees, a worldwide federation of young leaders and entrepreneurs, as well as the Rotary Club, and was on the founding boards of the University of Alberta, Miseri-cordia and St. Joseph’s Auxiliary hospitals.

The couple, like many others, has also donated money to various worthy charities. But two years ago, the Radostitses

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“Our satisfaction is not necessarily in the giving of this donation, but in the

hope it generates that one day there will be a cure for cancer.”

made a particularly hefty donation – $50,000 – to research at the Cross Cancer Institute.By then, they’d had a long history with the facility. Ivan’s father was diagnosed with

prostate cancer when he was 59, and was treated there. Mary Agnes’ father was also treated, for mouth cancer, at the facility. “The Cross Cancer Institute gives spectacular care,” says Ivan. “It is out of this world.”

But five years ago, cancer came to roost very close to home. Mary Agnes found a lump under her right armpit – a biopsy confirmed non-Hodgkin lymphoma. This type of cancer originates in the cells that make the immune system. It is a more common lymphoma than its counterpart, Hodgkin lymphoma, and has at least 17 different types. More than 69,000 people are diag-nosed in North America every year with lymphomas of all varieties.

Immediately after the diagnosis, Mary Agnes and Ivan went to Palm Desert, Cal-ifornia, for a holiday. Upon their return, Mary Agnes had surgery to remove the tumour and then embarked on a long-term chemotherapy regime – every six weeks ini-tially, then every three months, for four years. The treatment went well and there were virtually no troubling side effects. “The hardest part was getting the needle in my arm,” says Mary Agnes. “After that it was clear sailing.” Her last session was in the fall of 2013 and she will have a follow-up appointment this summer. The couple hopes to hear the words “in remission” at that meeting.

As a result of Mary Agnes’ diagnosis, the $50,000 went to a research area that could make the biggest impact on lymphoma research, a donation the Radostitses made halfway through her treatment. That news was music to the ears of Dr. Luc Berthi-aume, a researcher in the department of cell biology at the University of Alberta. He received his PhD at the University of Sherbrooke, and after a post-doctoral fellowship at the prestigious Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, he stud-ied signalling mechanisms in normal and cancer cells at University of Alberta, where he has been for the last 18 years. “There is a clear, unmet medical need for answers to hematological cancers,” he says.

Donations, like the one made by the Radostitses, are critical to funding novel ideas and areas of cancer research identified by the Alberta Cancer Foundation’s scientific review panel, including Dr. Berthiaume’s work. This donation jump-started the work on our new personalized treatment strategy for lymphomas, says Dr. Berthiaume,

and provided the seed money needed to obtain a larger three-year grant from the Alberta Cancer Foundation to evaluate the new treatment strategy.

Over that term, Dr. Berthiaume and clinical trial-ists at the Cross Cancer Institute will evaluate the efficacy of a new drug that has been found to be “highly- selective” for the killing of lymphoma tumours. The use of the drug will be guided by the presence of an un-der-expressed “biomarker” that identifies molecular lesions in cancer cells that makes them vulnerable to the drug. In other words, “in this type of intervention, called personalized medicine, the drug is only given to people who will benefit from it and this therefore spares patients from unnecessary treatments,” he says. “It is a novel way to treat cancer patients.”

The overall goal of the grant is to test the viability for widespread, clinical applications. This involves showing that the drug treats lymphoma in animals, and proving that it is safe enough to begin testing in humans, through a Phase 1 trial. “If all goes well, at the end of year two we should be able to test the drug in humans,” says Dr. Berthiaume. There is room for optimism: the drug has been found to be non-toxic in mice, and is 300 times more efficient in killing cancer cells than normal cells, while leaving normal cells intact. “It is a highly selective bullet in the laboratory setting, giving hope for a new cancer therapy with minimal side effects,” he says.

Berthiaume’s work is likely to transcend lymphoma cancers: the lesions found in certain lymphomas that render them susceptible to the new drug have also been identified in many other common cancers. If successful, he says, the work will “improve patient care and outcomes, spare patients with unresponsive tumours the toxic side effects (of traditional treatments) that reduce quality of life and wellbeing and reduce healthcare costs.”

This information resonates with the Radostitses, so much in fact, that they recently made an additional $50,000 donation to the Alberta Cancer Foundation. “Without research, we make no progress,” says Ivan. “It is abso-

lutely essential for developing new treatments.” The couple looks forward to a cancer-free journey

ahead. They have four children and seven grandchildren to spend time with, and a property at Lake Windermere to visit. Ivan golfs regularly and – despite having osteoar-thritis – still goes to an office where he manages his real estate holdings and conducts business with his sons. The Radostitses celebrated 50 years of marriage in June 2013 and are well-travelled (at last count, they’d been to 47 countries), but still have South Africa on their bucket list.

And, now that Mary Agnes has been recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, they are attending information sessions at the Alzheimer Society in Edmonton. There are definitely more challenges ahead, but this couple is ready and optimistic.

“We’ve had a great life,” Mary Agnes says. “Our satis-faction is not necessarily in the giving of this donation, but in the hope it generates that one day there will be a cure for cancer.”

PHILANTHROPIC PAIR: Mary Agnes and Ivan Radostits wanted to give back to the Cross Cancer Institute, where Mary Agnes was treated for non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

albertacancer.ca

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Two Wheels at a TimeWayne Foo was nervous. He has cycled for 45 years, sometimes clocking in dozens of miles in a single trip. But as he perched on his bike at the start of Calgary’s 2013 Ride to Conquer Cancer, he knew he was in for a tough ride. He hadn’t had time to train. All his energy had gone to caring for his wife Lynne Marshall, who was diagnosed with the brain cancer, Glioblastoma, a few months earlier.

Marshall had watched her father die of Glioblastoma years earlier. The disease isn’t typically genetic, but Marshall had a gut feeling it would inevita-bly take her, too. When her father died, she told Foo: “I want to squeeze as much life out of this body as I can.” And she did. The couple started two international companies – Marshall a lobbyist, Foo the president of an oil and gas exploration company. They cultivated a large network of friends, and they explored the world together from a bicycle seat.

“The connection to cycling is something we shared,” says Foo.So when doctors found a tumour on Marshall’s brain in December 2012, Foo

says, “it just seemed logical” that he join the Ride to Conquer Cancer to raise funds for the Alberta Cancer Foundation. By the time he started the ride in August 2013,

he had raised more than $81,000. But then he had to complete the two-day journey – and he was intimidated. “My goal was to survive,” he says.

Once Foo got going, he enjoyed the ride. As he cycled near the Rocky Mountains, he thought of the full life he and his wife had shared: breakfasts overlook-ing the French countryside,

cycling trips in Hawaii.Marshall watched from the sidelines, checking in at

stops along the route. “She was riding with me,” Foo says. She died a few months later, in February 2014.

Foo signed up for the Ride again this year, and has made a personal gift to fund, in perpetuity, the “Lynne Marshall & Wayne Foo Clinical Fellow in Gliobastoma. “It will serve as a legacy,” he says. “Not just of Lynne, but also of the way we went jointly through the disease.”

Wayne Foo cycles through the ups and downs of cancer

“The connection to cycling is something we shared,” says Wayne Foo of his

late wife Lynne Marshall.

inspiring individualMy Leap •

PEDAL PARTNERS: Wayne Foo and his wife Lynne Marshall enjoyed cycling the world together. The pair is shown with dog Chica at a past Ride to Conquer Cancer.

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