The Eskimos will help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Cross Cancer Institute during their CFL game against the Ottawa RedBlacks at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13.
All online purchases of a limited-edition Empire Gives Back ticket to the game (promo code GIVESBACK) available until Oct. 12 will help support Northern Alberta’s comprehensive cancer centre and leader in innovative cancer research, prevention, treatment and care.
“People are trying to have impacts in ways that are meaningful and unique to them,” Alberta Cancer Foundation president and CEO George Andrews said about all the love the Cross Cancer Institute has been receiving this year. “It’s really a group of individuals who have been impacted in one way or another who have come under this umbrella of the Cross 50th anniversary.”
That would include Eskimos President and Chief Executive Officer Len Rhodes, who underwent treatment for prostate cancer at the Cross Cancer Institute.
“We’re going to have 50 cancer survivors come out on the 50-yard line to ring a bell (at halftime),” Andrews said about the Eskimos game. “At the Cross, when you’re finished your treatment, you get to ring a bell. It’s kind of a tradition that has evolved over time.
“But what has come out of this that’s really surprising to me,” he continued, “is there’s a large number of people, when they heard we were doing this, said they didn’t get to ring their bell for whatever reason. They are asking if they can come out and ring their bell now.
“It’s really kind of inspiring and humbling all at the same time.”
In honour of the “Bell of Hope,” the Eskimos will be selling cowbells at the game.
Among some of the many grassroots initiatives that have sprung up during the Cross Cancer Institute’s Show the Love campaign this year are local greenhouses donating a portion of their sales on the May long weekend, a radio-a-thon to raise awareness for the Cross Cancer Institute, and Calves for Cancer, where 72 cattle farmers and ranchers agreed to each donate a calf for auction this fall.
“The first cow went to auction last week and sold for $3,000,” Andrews said. “These calves would typically go for about $1,000 so this particular calf was sold (and immediately put back up for auction) three times.”
Children brought in money from Kool-Aid or ice cream stands; other individuals brought in supplies like colouring books “because there’s kids who have to go through cancer treatments,” The World’s Longest Hockey Game with Brent Saik and his buddies on outdoor ice for 10 days in the middle of winter raised more than $900,000 and at least eight different golf tournaments donated money in addition to the Alberta Cancer Foundation’s fundraising tourney that brought in $1 million.
Roughly 23,000 people receive treatment annually at The Cross Cancer Institute, which puts more people on clinical trials than the national average.
“They’re doing some cutting-edge work,” Andrews said. “There are people who are cancer-free that a decade ago wouldn’t have been able to say that.
“We wouldn’t have what we have if it wasn’t for the fantastic people who devote their lives to doing their research there or working with patients,” he added.
The Cross 50th anniversary celebration will be held late afternoon (exact time TBA) on Tuesday, Nov. 6, with an open invitation for everyone to meet on the ground floor of the Kaye Clinic (11400 University Avenue) to say thank you to the volunteers and “acknowledge all the great people who work there,” according to Andrews.
“We want to acknowledge the success of the facility … and talk about some of the things that are on the horizon that are truly exciting and are being driven in Alberta,” he said. “And if it generates a little revenue to help support some of the things that need to be purchased in the hospital, so much the better.”
Andrews experienced all of the benefits the Cross Cancer Institute has to offer when his father died of prostate cancer several years ago.
“My father did not have a great cancer journey,” he said. “Like a lot of men his age, he didn’t go for testing so he got diagnosed with prostate cancer when it was Stage 4. I was taking him for treatments and they were very, very good to him, very sympathetic, and very supportive to me personally. But it was a little late for my dad and treatments were hard and the disease was spreading and it just took him in the end.
“Before I had that experience, the Cross was a place I drove past and hoped I never ever had to experience it. And then my father was getting treatment and I really appreciated the care and I saw it was a place of hope, I saw a group of people who were completely driven about helping everybody have the best experience possible. The phrase that is often used is they say they’re trying to give people more moments.
“I watched that and I watched them try to work around my father” Andrews continued. “I was very close to my dad. Ironically, after he passed, the Cross again became a place that I wanted to drive past. To be honest with you, for about a year I would deliberately structure my drive home so I wouldn’t have to drive past it.
“A number of years later, I get a phone call saying the foundation is looking for new leadership and would I be interested? So I’m working there now. The first time I went through the Cross, I had this flashback to this time with my dad, but it very quickly went away because I met the researchers and the doctors and I got a sense for some of the work they were doing around clinical trials and raising the bar for cancer treatment internationally.
“It’s a very humbling experience to be around people who have international reputations here in Edmonton.”