Breast cancer survivors find strength in fellowship

The donor: Heather Douglas

Gift: Help raise $ 314,000 and climbing

The cause: Canadian Cancer Society

The reason: Fund research on metastasized bad cancer

When Heather Douglas was diagnosed with bad cancer in 2004, she underwent a mastectomy and felt confident that the cancer had been detected early. Five years later, she discovered that the cancer had metastasized or spread to the lining of the lungs and liver.

Douglas, 51, finally had to leave her position as a mining badyst and recently moved from Calgary to Ottawa with her husband to get closer to her parents. The average lifespan of people with metastatic bad cancer is about three years. "I'm clearly on the lucky side," she said.

A few years ago, Ms. Douglas decided to participate in Run for the Cure, the Canadian Cancer Society's annual fundraiser for bad cancer research. She found that the relentless focus of the event on the survivors was disconcerting and that the organizers were discouraged from talking about women with metastatic bad cancer. And yet, up to 30% of patients with early-stage bad cancer report recurrence of the disease and little research has been conducted to understand why this occurs.

Ms. Douglas and a group of friends began organizing teams to fight metastatic bad cancer and the Cancer Society agreed that any money raised by the teams would be devoted to cancer research metastasis. The number of teams in Canada has increased from 10 in 2016 to 20 this year, and so far they have raised $ 314,000. Douglas hopes to have more teams next year, although many captains have died. Women with metastatic bad cancer "feel really isolated," she said. "Now they can feel the strength of being together."

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