It was the dream of Cochranite Isabel McPherson to see that she and her team’s fundraising efforts through the Order of the Eastern Star went directly to a cancer survivor network that reached out to Albertans living in rural areas — CancerBridges.
McPherson succumbed to cancer on Feb. 19 2010.
Fellow Cochranite and fundraiser, Allie Whitbread, said her friend would be pleased to see that the $44,000 they raised would go toward the area of cancer that meant the most to her — survivorship in rural Alberta, and the recent launch of a website that would continue to build bridges for survivors.
“She didn’t want the money to go toward research,” said Whitbread, who accompanied McPherson along her fundraising journey.
CancerBridges, which is a support program funded through the Alberta Cancer Foundation, aims to become the “hub of survivorship care” in Alberta, according to CancerBridges program coordinator, Mike Lang.
Lang added the website will also include blog posts, videos, the monthly survivor network newsletter, an events calendar and info on the organization’s seminars.
“I am also a cancer survivor, so I have some inside knowledge on what information cancer survivors need to see and hear while they try and make the rest of their life the best of their life,” said Lang.
“Isabel’s vision was for cancer survivors all over the province to have access to supportive and educational programs. While we started to do programs in smaller centres, it’s hard to get on-the-ground programs out there on such a small budget, so the website has become the primary way to get this information out to all the rural communities around the province.”
Calgary director Dr. Janine Giese-Davis is thrilled to see how far CancerBridges has come in such a short period of time.
“Everything we’ve tried to create with the money we have from Isabel, we want to ensure our program will benefit people in rural areas and not just in the cities — that was really important to Isabel,” said Giese-Davis.
“I’m part professional, part personal advocate.”
No stranger to the impact of cancer, Giese-Davis turned to a life of medicine after losing her husband, uncle and father to various forms of cancer — all of whom she lost in a five-year period, by the time she was 25.
It was at this time, as she was now faced with raising her young son as a single parent, that Giese-Davis thought she could channel her losses into something that would benefit others who had also endured.
“It was pretty dramatic to lose all the men in my life in five years. . . I thought maybe I could be a different kind of professional. . . sometimes professionals don’t understand from a human standpoint,” said Giese-Davis.
With respect to the website, which was officially launched Feb. 24, 2012, the director said they are currently reaching at least 38 communities throughout Alberta, helping CancerBridges to fulfill McPherson’s goals.
“We’re really trying to be a provincial program and not just a Calgary program,” said Giese-Davis.
Lang said that additional funding will be put toward peer support programs in rural towns.
To learn more or to donate, visit cancerbridges.ca.
