Dr Raymond Reilly, University of Toronto – 2019 Innovation to Impact Grant

A new radiation treatment for metastatic triple negative breast cancer

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a highly aggressive form of the disease with a high likelihood of becoming metastatic, even when it is detected early. People with metastatic TNBC currently have few treatment options beyond chemotherapy, which often fails as the tumours become resistant quickly. With the support of a CCS Innovation to Impact Grant, Dr Raymond Reilly and his team are pioneering an innovative new technique that would improve treatment for TNBC and prevent its spread. Their technique uses gold nanoparticles to help amplify and target radiation specifically to the tumour to boost its effectiveness and reduce side effects. The researchers will also study whether this new technique can be combined with immunotherapy to limit the spread of TNBC tumours, offering new hope to people with this deadly disease.

Dr Joseph Cafazzo – The Toronto Hospital (General Division)

Using virtual clinics to improve survivorship care

Dr Joseph Cafazzo is testing a new virtual model of survivorship care for prostate and breast cancer that aims to improve quality of life for survivors. Thanks to better early detection and treatment strategies, more people are surviving prostate and breast cancer. But these survivors often have complex, long-term physical and psychosocial needs. This poses an immense challenge for our healthcare system, which is not equipped to provide adequate survivorship follow-up care to so many people. With the support of a previous CCS grant, Dr Cafazzo and his team developed a virtual survivorship clinic for prostate cancer survivors in the Toronto area, offering men at-home access to their test results as well as follow-up visits with an experienced nurse or specialist. Now, they are expanding their virtual clinic to 2 new sites in Halifax and Calgary and adapting this model to design a virtual survivorship clinic for breast cancer. These clinics will provide a sustainable model that ensures optimal use of healthcare resources, improved access to survivorship care, including for those living in rural communities, and an overall better quality of life for survivors.

We’ve got a number of things planned in honour of our milestone birthday. We hope you’ll join us in our celebrations.

#1 – Join our $25M by ’25 pledge

Join us in our pledge to raise $25 million by 2025. This is an opportunity for our industry to stand together to make a difference. By joining WICC in our challenge, you’ll join colleagues, partners, suppliers and friends from across the insurance industry in helping to fund cancer research, support and education and improve the lives of those affected by cancer. Sign me up.

#2 – Get personal with WICC

Cancer is personal. WICC was created because of a personal cancer story and, every year, thousands of insurance colleagues experience their own cancer battles, triumphs and losses. Read and  Hear how cancer and WICC have impacted the lives of some of some of WICC’s board members, supporters and friends.

Have your own story to share? We’d love to hear from you.

#3 – Get social with WICC

If you’re not already following us on social media, what are you waiting for? Find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Be sure to check out our social feeds every hump day for ‘WICC Wednesday’ when we’ll feature photos and stories from the past 25 years.

#4 – Give to WICC

Consider donating $25, $250, $2,500 (or anything else) as a birthday present to WICC. As always, 100% of funds donated go to fund cancer research, support and education and improve the lives of those affected by cancer.  Donate now.