Thirty years ago, we didn’t really know what cancer was or how to effectively treat it. Today, thanks to research, we now know there are over 230 types of cancer, and that each type is very different from the others. Today, thanks to research, we have effective screening and treatment for many types of cancer. If Terry Fox were to be diagnosed today, he would be much less likely to lose his leg to cancer and he could live to continue the fight.
Research is costly and takes a very long time. For example, Herceptin, a drug that was developed at UCLA that benefits patients with one particular sub-type of breast cancer, took more than 10 years to develop and test, and at a cost of more than one billion dollars. More breakthroughs of this kind will be discovered, but we won’t get there without ongoing funding. The Princess Margaret has a world-class research team in place but we need funding, like that from Scotiabank Road Hockey to Conquer Cancer, to continue to invest in research.