People continue to go the extra mile or kilometre, raising money for the North Bay Regional Health Centre’s Cancer Care, Close to Home campaign.
On Sunday over 400 participants raised just over $106,000 for advanced medical equipment at the Annual Our Hospital Walk/Run fundraiser, bringing its 13-year total to over $1.3 million.
“We always hope to raise over $100,000. So, we are thrilled when that happens,” said Tammy Morison, North Bay Regional Health Centre Foundation President and CEO.
Money raised will help purchase advanced medical equipment to screen, diagnose and treat patients with cancer.
“The government doesn’t fund medical equipment. It is the responsibility of the hospital and our community together. So, for us, it is a couple of CT scanners and lots of great equipment for our lab. Our lab has among the best turnaround times according to Cancer Care Ontario for test-related cancer. As well as telemedicine, palliative care for pain control and the surgical programs. We do over 600 cancer surgeries every year, and we do 3,000 colonoscopies. So those are such important screening and diagnosis tools to have,” said Morison.
North Bay resident Kim Kanmacher was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2017, on her youngest granddaughter’s first birthday.
She shared with the walk/run participants the importance of receiving cancer care in her own community.
“I can tell you no one is immune to cancer and everyone’s journey is different. Supporting the Cancer Care, Close to Home campaign is so important to myself, my family and our entire community, having state of the art equipment in place so patients can have the best outcome in a very time-sensitive manner,” said Kanmacher.
“No one plans a diagnosis of cancer. No one thinks it is ever going to happen to them until it does. I was able to attend my appointments with my oncologist in Sudbury through telemedicine right here at our hospital. It was such a relief for myself and my family that I didn’t have to travel when I was going through such rigorous treatments.”
Kanmacher told the crowd that every donation counts.
“Cancer does change everything. But with your support and generosity, our hospital can purchase the urgently needed medical equipment we need. Having these incredible services and equipment right here on our doorstep is a gift to our medical community, patients and families.”
Part of the fundraising event included team challenges.
The community team challenge award was won by “May the Fords Be With You-Stockfish Ford.
RBC won the team spirit award, the youth team challenge was won by “Nightmare” and the hospital team challenge went to “Wild, Wild West.”
The campaign is expected to wrap up by the end of the year, hitting its goal of $6 million.
