B.C. cancer research centre to focus on prevention
Canadians will soon have access to cutting-edge research on how to live with cancer after treatment and ways to prevent it in the first place, thanks to a new centre located in Vancouver.
The Canadian Cancer Society's Centre for Cancer Prevention and Support on West 10th Avenue is billed as the first of its kind. At a news conference Wednesday, Dr. David Huntsman, a leading cancer researcher, said it will be a hub for research projects focused on reducing the number of cancer patients.
"We're looking very broadly at cancer prevention in particular, modifiable risk factors, which are exposure to carcinogens, the need for exercise – to prevent cancer, but (also) once you have cancer – and anything else you can do to modify that risk."
The Canadian Cancer Society estimates nearly half of Canadians will get a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.
Kathy Andrews said hearing she had cancer felt like a train hit her. Now cancer free, she lives with the kind of effects the new centre can help with.
"I'm honestly dealing with ongoing fears and questions about the cancer coming back, how to pick it up early, how to minimize the toll that treatment has taken on me, in particular my heart," Andrews said.
Health Minister Adrian Dix, who revealed his mom's cancer diagnosis more than 20 years ago, said the province was bracing for an increase in demand for cancer services.
"We're seeing more age-related cancer as people, as our society, ages. So this is a challenge and an opportunity for us to be leaders, to be there for people," he said.
The centre will serve people from all over the province. It will allow patients to get treatment and researchers to be in the same facility following up. For those needing treatment, this centre will offer a place to stay. The health minister recognizes traveling for treatment can be awful.
"We want to provide, in the next 15 years, more services closer to home in communities such as Nanaimo and Kamloops and others, in Surrey and Burnaby and others," Dix added.
The centre was funded with a $10 million grant from the province and individual donations to the Canadian Cancer Society.
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