Alberta Cancer Foundation investing $7M into four transformative cancer research programs
Posted Mar 13, 2014 3:48 pm.
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Every day 43 Albertans hear the words “you have cancer”.
The Alberta Cancer Foundation wants to bring that number down significantly.
On Thursday morning, the Foundation announced $7-million over five years would be invested in transformative program opportunities.
One of the programs being funded is a three-year pilot program for lung cancer screening in hopes of reducing lung cancer deaths in Alberta.
Lung cancer kills more than breast, colon, and prostate cancer combined.
The screening program has already seen 200 patients.
Cancer survivor Brian Wyllie said the screening process saved his life.
“Early detection of lung cancer has saved myself, and I’m sure that it’s very, very important for everybody to make changes to their lifestyle and get screened, and get screened early,” Wyllie said.
Wyllie joined the program three years ago when they discovered cancer in his right lung.
Doctors were able to detect his cancer early which meant they were able to remove it in an extremely non-invasive way.
He said within four days of his surgery he was already back home.
Among the other programs being funded are a portable swallowing therapy unit for neck and head cancer patients, BAD biology – a gateway to novel predictive markers and therapeutic targets for breast cancer – and a clinical evaluation of new treatments for lymphoma.
