How you can make a difference

By supporting Girls Night In you are helping the Canadian Cancer Society fund leading-edge research for women’s cancers, specifically breast, cervical, ovarian and uterine.

Here are some of the ways your donation will support women’s cancer research:

Women’s cancer research
In 2008, the Canadian Cancer Society funded more than $5.5 million to research women’s cancers, including 12 research grants and awards to researchers in Ontario.

The Canadian Cancer Society is also a founding partner of the Canadian Breast Cancer Research Alliance (CBCRA), whose purpose is to encourage and support high quality research relevant to the prevention, treatment and control of breast cancer. Each year the Canadian Cancer Society contributes $2.5 million to research funded by this alliance.

Clinical trials
Cancer clinical trials are research studies that test new and better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer. The Canadian Cancer Society funds clinical trials in Canada by providing core funding to the NCIC-Clinical Trials Group which develops, conducts and analyzes national and international trials for new cancer drugs, cancer prevention strategies, supportive care approaches, and quality of life improvements for people with cancer.

This year, the Canadian Cancer Society has allocated more than $5.6 million in funding to this group, which is based at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.

Since 1980, more than 60,000 patients have been enrolled in over 400 clinical trials through this group. Advances from these studies include:

• Non-breast cancer related causes account for most death in breast cancer survivors. Findings from the letrozole trial show women need to be monitored for risk for non-cancer related conditions.
• A current international clinical trial testing whether the drug exemestane - a drug that suppresses estrogen production - can help prevent breast cancer in women who are at increased risk for the disease.
• A new analysis of a landmark clinical trial involving the breast cancer drug letrozole found that the drug reduced recurrence of the disease for women with hormone-sensitive early breast cancer, who have completed tamoxifen therapy up to five years earlier.

Support Services
The Canadian Cancer Society is here to help. We offer support and information for people living with cancer, their caregivers, family and friends. For more information on the support services available in your area, questions regarding this information or want to learn more, please visit www.cancer.ca or call our national, bilingual, toll-free Cancer Information Service at 1 888 939-3333.