Every step you take as a charity runner for the BC Cancer Foundation is powering life-saving research in early cancer detection and innovative new treatments in B.C., while also bringing care closer to home for people across the province.
As the philanthropic partner of BC Cancer, the BC Cancer Foundation is the driving force behind progress in cancer research and care across B.C.
By connecting donor investment with the people, ideas and opportunities that will have the greatest impact for the 80,000 British Columbians facing cancer today, we are also transforming what’s possible for patients and their families tomorrow.
Every donation to the BC Cancer Foundation stays in B.C., accelerating the world-leading work of BC Cancer to increase access to cancer research and care in every corner of B.C.
Fuelled by your support, we are:
Accelerating life-saving early cancer detection province-wide
Launched in 2022, with almost $2 million in BC Cancer Foundation support, BC Cancer’s provincial lung screening program is now diagnosing approximately 71% of participants’ lung cancers in Stage 1 or 2 — when treatment is much more likely to result in a cure.
Donor investment in BC Cancer’s lung team also helped establish North America’s first Breathomics Lab, where researchers are developing a simple breath test to detect early lung cancer in people who are not eligible for current screening.
Driving breakthroughs in innovative new treatment
BC Cancer’s first CART clinical trial was powered by years of BC Cancer Foundation investment in immunotherapy research and made-in-B.C. manufacturing capacity to produce CAR T-cells — a patient’s own immune cells re-engineered to destroy cancer.
The results were extraordinary: over 40% of the leukemia and lymphoma patients who participated, all of whom had exhausted treatment options, achieved complete regression.
A second CAR-T trial at BC Cancer is enabling even more blood cancer patients, including children, to benefit from CAR-T therapy. Researchers are also exploring its effectiveness on solid ovarian and pancreatic tumours, two of the more difficult cancers to treat.
Transforming treatment to be faster and with fewer side effects
Thanks to donor-funded research, curative radiation treatment for prostate cancer can now be delivered in just five sessions, down from the 40 that were previously the standard of care in B.C. Further investment in an AI-powered clinical trial is exploring whether treatment can be reduced even further, to just two sessions.
This advancement could significantly reduce the burden on patients, eliminating the need to travel to one of BC Cancer’s six regional centres for five to eight weeks of daily radiation treatments. AI-enabled adaptive radiation therapy also accounts for daily changes in a patient’s anatomy, allowing treatment to be delivered with greater precision while minimizing exposure to surrounding healthy tissue.
Crossing the finish line, together
We are entering a new era of cancer care, where discoveries that once seemed impossible are becoming reality.
From detecting cancer earlier to developing treatments that are more precise, less invasive and increasingly personalized, the pace of progress is accelerating. The next decade holds extraordinary potential to transform what’s possible for people facing cancer in B.C.
When you run for the BC Cancer Foundation at the BMO Vancouver Marathon, you’re helping us move this progress forward. Every stride you take brings us closer to a future where more cancers are caught earlier, more treatments are available closer to home and more British Columbians have the opportunity to live longer, healthier lives.
