Before you get immersed in the holiday season…

Dear Friend,

I began volunteering with Prevent Cancer Now just over seven years ago, shortly after completing treatment for breast cancer myself. As a healthy, fit young woman, I, along with my family and friends, were devastated that cancer got me. That wasn’t supposed to happen. I worked in health promotion and thought I was doing everything right to protect myself. Turns out, there was a lot I didn’t know. I’ve learned so much in the last seven years from the many scientists, researchers and cancer survivors who volunteer their time and expertise to Prevent Cancer Now. I feel privileged to be part of the organization that passes that valuable information on to you.

Sometimes, stopping cancer before it starts can seem like an endless task. But we are making progress! Prevent Cancer Now has been successful in:

Reaching out

• Each quarter, over 20,000 Canadians receive our on-line newsletter, An Ounce; log into our Facebook page; or act on PCN Tweets. An Ounce has garnered notable praise: “Excellent e-Newsletter. One of the best I’ve seen yet!” said John Bennett, Executive Director, Sierra Club Canada.
• Patients and survivors are learning how to prevent a recurrence of cancer, through our presentations at the Maplesoft Centre, operated by the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation. Presentations will soon be rolled out across Canada.

Eliminating Toxins

• Prevent Cancer Now helped make the promised pesticide ban in Manitoba happen, and is continuing to work hard to strengthen pesticide regulations in British Columbia.
• We have supported local organizations in their efforts to prevent the use of incinerators, successfully ending consideration of incineration in Meaford and Brant County, Ontario and in Powell River, BC.
• Now that the mining and export of asbestos has ended in Canada, Prevent Cancer Now continues to work with RightOn Canada activist Kathleen Ruff to stop the Canadian government’s continued support of asbestos internationally, and to protect Canadians and support and protect victims and their families at home.

We have also been working with our many partners to eliminate toxins from personal care products, ban youth from using tanning beds, and stop coal-fired plants in Ontario, among other issues.

Prevent Cancer Now has big plans for next year, too, including a re-vamp of our website to bring better information to you in a way that’s easier to act upon.

So while we are tackling a huge issue, more and more people now know that cancer is NOT inevitable, that there is much they can do to protect themselves and their families. We are becoming savvy shoppers, and demanding that cancer-causing agents be taken out of our products. We are supporting sustainable energy sources, agriculture, and industrial practices, and are demanding that our regulators consider our health and the environment in their decisions.

So, before we are fully immersed in the holiday season, think of the people you love – those who may have had to deal with cancer, and those you never want to see go through it. I think of my daughter, Joanna, who is now a board member with Prevent Cancer Now herself. I am so grateful that I am able to help her make the changes we all need to, personally and collectively, to stop cancer before it starts.

Please go to our website and donate today, because prevention is the real cure!

Most sincerely,

Diana Daghofer, Co-Chair
Prevent Cancer Now

P.S. Your gift today will help us work to protect those you care deeply about. Thank you for helping to end cancer before it starts.