Wednesday, January 25 was national Wear It Pink Day, a day when we celebrate the lives and health of those who have been challenged by breast or gynecologic cancers, and the day that we launched this year’s Shoppers Drug Mart Weekend To End Women’s Cancers.

This year’s event in Toronto is going to be extra-special. It’ll be our 10th anniversary – we’ve tagged it 10 Years Strong. And through the 9 years leading up to this year’s Weekend, which will take place September 8 and 9, 42,348 participants have raised a staggering $123.4 million for critical research, clinical enhancements and survivorship programs at The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.

So, the city of Toronto was draped in pink on Wednesday. At the Shoppers Drug Mart location at 3366 Yonge Street, our Weekend Warrior, Chad Cieslik, was walking 60 kms on a treadmill to illustrate the duration of our robust two-day event (there is a 30 km, one-day option, too). And, of course, he was wearing pink. Companies across the GTA got into the spirit, with team captains mobilizing their colleagues for Wear It Pink Day. At The Princess Margaret, Dr. Bob Bell, President & CEO of the University Health Network, joined me in making a short speech and then, with Dr. Mary Gospodarowicz, Medical Director of the Cancer Program at PMH, and Justine Jackson, Sr. VP and Chief Financial Officer of UHN, we cut up a huge pink WEWC cake for staff as well as patients, their family and friends (and wowzer, was it good!). Staff at The Princess Margaret and our sister hospitals, Toronto General, Toronto Western and Toronto Rehab, were invited to wear pink (or teal for gynecologic cancers) and received a ballot for each item of pink or teal they were wearing. Our amazing Barb Tisano, who we know and love for her stellar work at PMH reception, must have earned 14 or 15 ballots – sweater, tights, slippers, bracelets, bunny ears – she had it all! Several participants had their ballot drawn and won prizes, including an LED TV, a DVD player, a digital photo frame and a one-year membership to the Toronto Zoo. The hospitals are still buzzing over Wear It Pink Day! And for those that registered to participate in our 10 Years Strong Shoppers Drug Mart Weekend To End Women’s Cancers, one name was drawn for a Blackberry Curve!

But as impressive as all of those activities were (and they were impressive!), what really awed me were two other things. At dawn, the CN Tower was illuminated in pink for the remainder of the day, while at dusk, Toronto City Hall was lit in pink as skaters flitted across the ice at Nathan Phillips Square. Both iconic structures were stunning in pink, and reminded residents of our special Wear It Pink Day and its significance to The Shoppers Drug Mart Weekend To End Women’s Cancers and the work being at The Princess Margaret to conquer women’s cancers in our lifetime.

The staff at the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation were treated to a visit today from three delightful young students and their principal from St. Clare Catholic School.  Claudia Femia, Maya Mulahmetovic, and Simone Mulahmetovic helped organize a penny drive at their school which they called Cents for Cancer, and they were excited to present us with $725.12….not all pennies, but over 45,000 of them!  The girls needed a trolley to get the thousands of coins up to our office.

Maria Fantauzzi, principal at St. Clare, told us that thinking of ways to ‘give back’ to the community is an important aspect to school life for her students, and she’s very proud of their efforts.

My staff and I love visits from our donors—young donors, old donors, and everything in between.  It gives us a wonderful opportunity to say thank you face to face, get our picture taken with some very special people, and to hear about the many personal stories that have motivated people to give and to fundraise for The Princess Margaret.

But there is really something extra special about meeting young children who are proud of their fundraising efforts and who are learning at a young age the special joy that comes from giving.  We want to thank the parents and teachers of the students at St. Clare for taking the time to teach these important values and for being great role models for their children.

We’re so grateful that others in our community are as motivated as we are to CONQUER CANCER IN OUR LIFETIME.

In an early (7am) morning meeting with senior staff of Princess Margaret, the idea of “Safe vs. Disruptive” thinking and strategies came forward from Dr. Mary G. We discussed this with some energy and enthusiasm. It is a profound insight for us. In a cancer hospital, patient care is always focused on “Safe” but research and new protocols might be thought of in “Disruptive” terms. Patients obviously want “Safe” treatment but often patients benefit from “Disruptive” research, science and thinking. The same applies in the Foundation as we think about raising the Financial Capital to support the Human Capital who embrace both “Safe” and “Disruptive”. We live in an ever more complex world with an explosion of date…….information and video on the internet is doubling every two years now. We live in the world of “Big Data”. Increasingly, we need “Big Ideas” to deal with big problems. That’s why understanding and embracing both “Safe” and “Disruptive” thinking is so important for us at Princess Margaret. Thanks to Dr. Mary G. for this outstanding insight. Mary is an incredible leader and a “Passion Capitalist” extraordinaire!

I was walking through The Princess Margaret Hospital yesterday and spotted this saying handwritten on a white board across from the blood lab: “The way of Courage passes directly through your greatest fear.” Courage is a concept that comes up in a cancer centre on a regular basis. We see many, many patients and their families display incredible courage. We also see staff like doctors, nurses, security guards and patient flow coordinators all display courage as well. Courage is a word and a concept well-known to cancer patients and their caregivers. What is interesting is how seldom the word and concept of “courage” is used in the business community. Sure, entrepreneurs are often described as courageous, but nearly always after they are successful. In the business world, courage is not a word that is commonly used. Courage does not show up on most performance appraisals. Courage is not ‘taught’ or even discussed in most business schools. I have learned a great deal about courage in my work at The Princess Margaret. Courage is the third principle of Passion Capital and all Passion Capitalists possess courage. Courage is the ‘soul’ of Passion Capital. Here’s to all those who understand the meaning of: “The way of Courage passes directly through your greatest fear.”

I can remember quite vividly going to the movies to see Bo Derek in ’10’ back in 1979. And while I can’t remember much about the film, I do recall that that was the era of rating people: “I went out with a girl who was an 8.5,” or, “My new boyfriend is an absolute 10.”

That concept has long faded along with much of the superficiality of the era. But, we’ve resurrected the ‘10’ concept at The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation in conjunction with our Shoppers Drug Mart Weekend To End Women’s Cancers.

‘I’M A 10’ reflects two things: we’re celebrating 10 years strong – the 10^th anniversary of our landmark Weekend To End Women’s Cancers -- as well as the beauty, both internal and external, exhibited by our participants.

You’ll start seeing our ‘I’M A 10’ campaign everywhere – television, bus shelters, brochures and banners.  If you’re driving past the hospital on University, you won’t be able to miss Mehre Zuckerman’s smiling face on the banner that adorns The Princess Margaret. Mehre is a survivor and a longtime participant in The Shoppers Drug Mart Weekend To End Women’s Cancers. At various locations in the city, I have also seen the smiling faces of Audrey Loeb, who initiated The Weekend To End Women’s Cancers in 2003, Chad Cieslik, our event ironman, and Vicki Fiddler, who will be participating in her 10^th Walk – all 10’s for their roles in The Shoppers Drug Mart Weekend To End Women’s Cancers.  

We’re celebrating 10 years strong in 2012 and we need you when we take to the streets, united in one ground-breaking movement to advance Personalized Cancer Medicine and end all women’s cancers. Will you join us and BE A 10 in 2012?

I’m really looking forward to walking in my 10^th Weekend To End Women’s Cancers (and its earlier incarnation, The Weekend To End Breast Cancer) this year, so I’M A 10, too! Just don’t expect to see me with braided hair like that other ’10,’ Bo Derek.

Visit www.ima10.ca for more info and to see some great stories.