My Mom, Pat, died of breast cancer in November of 2002. Like many who have witnessed a loved one pass from cancer, that experience left me with a burning desire to try to do something about the disease. I joined The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation just before the first Weekend to End Breast Cancer in 2003, and walking in this event every year is unquestionably one of the highlights of my life. The WEBC is so much more than just a fundraising event and I know it has touched thousands of others like me in the same way. Making changes to the extraordinarily successful WEBC is something we do with great care. Recently, we engaged dozens of loyal walkers as well as new walkers who have never participated in the event. We have decided to make two significant changes to the WEBC as a result of feedback from these walkers and the need to actively improve the event. The first change will be to add a one-day walk to our two-day 60-km walk. Our hope is to involve more new walkers in this event and to broaden the impact of the Walk. Many told us that this was a pretty busy weekend for them coming back from the summer, and some just couldn’t commit to the two days this year. The fundraising minimum for the one-day walk is $1250, so this, we believe, will also appeal to some new walkers. In addition, we are inviting those touched by other women’s cancers such as ovarian and cervical to walk with us and funds can be directed to these gynecological cancers. On a personal note, I have recently discovered that two women I know have been diagnosed with cervical cancer, and in my heart, I know that this is just the right thing to do. Also, we now know that there is a research link between breast cancer and gynecological cancers so this addition really makes sense to us and the world renowned researchers and clinicians at The Princess Margaret like Drs. Tak Mak, Joan Murphy and Barry Rosen. I couldn’t be more pleased to announce these changes. I, for one, am still committed to walking the two-day event but hope to see a whole lot of new people on the walk this year on either the one-day or the two-day, and I am personally committed that, step by step, we will conquer all women’s cancers in our lifetime.

Click Here to view the press release