Ovarian Cancer Walk of Hope stirs up emotion in Guelph

Known as a silent killer, over 3,000 Canadians are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, most of them in the late stages. A walk to raise awareness, funds and hope took place at the Guelph Arboretum Sunday morning.

“There’s not a lot of hope given, particularly if it’s a late stage diagnosis, you get the ‘up to five years survival,’” said Frances Vanover, Guelph-Kitchener-Waterloo Walk of Hope co-chair.

While a cancer diagnosis is scary, the Ovarian Cancer Walk of Hope aims to help alieve that fear. Vanover is proof survival rates aren’t set in stone.

“When I was first diagnosed 15 years ago, I think there were five Canadian scientists working on ovarian cancer. Now there’s over 60,” she said.

Some of those scientists are at the University of Guelph. Cancer researcher and professor of biomedical sciences, Jim Petrik, is developing ways to enhance the delivery of therapies to cancer tumors.

“Tumors, notoriously, are very difficult to get therapies into,” said Petrik. “We’ve developed a way in which we can open up the blood vessels that supply the tumor and we can get a dramatic increase in the uptake in the efficiency of therapies such as chemo therapies, viruses, and immune therapies. We are focusing on advanced stage cancers.”

For families like the Richards, the walk offers a chance to tackle the disease side by side.

“I had my treatment at Juravinski Cancer Centre in Hamilton, and shout out to them, they were amazing,” said Lesley Richards.

Vanover said efforts like Sunday’s walk aren’t only raising money for treatments, but also awareness of the warning signs to watch for.

“Because the symptoms are all things that woman pass off quite easily, you know, frequent urination, bloating, they are all common symptoms,” Vanover explained.

This year, the local walk raised more than $40,000, while 30 more events took place across the country. Families like the Richards don’t just walk for hope, they can actually have it.

“Knowing that these guys, hopefully my nieces, my granddaughter, my daughter, don't ever have to endure it, it would be nice if they could catch it early and do something about it,” said Richards.

The Richards family were Sunday’s top fundraiser bringing in almost $12,000.