“Team Andrea and Amy”  (also known to some of you as “ Team On and Aim” )

Please read our stories below and consider supporting us as we run the CIBC Run for the Cure together on October 6, 2024.   We have been sisters and best friends for over 50 years.   In these past few years, we have been further united in our diagnoses and fight against breast cancer. As survivors, we want to fight to give every woman an equal chance of survival.  If you cannot donate to our cause, then please consider supporting the CIBC Run for the Cure fundraising campaign in any other way possible. Thanks in advance for your support.    

A Message from Andrea:

Three years ago, on June 26, 2021, I went for a screening mammogram that changed my life forever.   Within days,  I received the news that I had bifocal, triple negative breast cancer. The day I received this dreadful news marked the start of my cancer journey. With my husband Tom by my side,  I decided immediately to place my life in the hands of a brilliant oncologist and a gifted surgeon, at the Tom Baker Cancer Centre in Calgary, Alberta.  Together, along with their team of  breast cancer experts, they developed a treatment plan, based on the current research available to them at that time. Data guided their decisions as they sought to maximize my chances of recovery and survival.  Not only have I survived, but I have continued to grow stronger both physically and mentally due to the tremendous support I have received from Tom and our daughters Jayna and Sydney, other family members, countless friends, medical professionals, volunteers and community programs.  As a survivor of this disease, I am fundraising and running again this year because ongoing research is needed to one day eradicate this disease.  And simply put, breast cancer research saves lives. With these goals in mind, of saving lives and ultimately eliminating breast cancer, I am going to run while also keeping specific people in mind.  

I am running in memory of my mom, whose breast cancer journey spanned over half her lifetime.  She was an inspiration to all who knew her.  She will remain in my heart forever and will always be my hero.  I will also be running for my two daughters, Jayna and Sydney, so that they may lead lives free from this disease.   

Statistics state that one in eight women in Canada will be diagnosed with breast cancer.  Following my diagnosis and treatment, I knew that another woman in my life would soon be receiving a breast cancer diagnosis.  I was devastated when a breast cancer diagnosis was delivered to  one of the people that has supported me the most during my cancer journey - my sister Amy.  And so, I am also running for Amy, another survivor that continues to be an inspiration to me every day of my journey. 

A Message From Amy:

It was early January 2023 and I was feeling great. COVID restrictions had eased and Grant, the kids and I and I just had a busy, fun filled Christmas with my sister and her family and had enjoyed an amazing European adventure. We had just returned home and I was feeling fit, healthy and happy. And then ‘it’ happened. The one thing every woman dreads. I felt a lump. Even though my sister had just faced a breast cancer diagnosis 18 months prior I tried not to panic. It was small, it moved around. It was right beside a cyst that they had monitored a few years before. I thought it had to be another one, especially since I had just had a clear mammogram less than four months ago. After a visit to my doctor and some reassuring words from her (she agreed that it was quite mobile - a good thing!) I put on my lucky socks and headed out for my ultrasound with Grant by my side. I had been through this before and it had all worked out (with my cyst) so I tried to remain calm. But when the tech quietly  disappeared and returned with the radiologist I suspected bad news - that I would be told that I needed a biopsy. What I didn’t expect was to hear the words ‘You have cancer’. Right then, right there. After that moment the weeks that followed were a blur - a visit to my sister in Calgary for a biopsy (she helped arrange one within days when it would have taken several weeks in Kelowna), awaiting my results, an appointment with my surgeon, pre surgical screening, surgery, waiting for pathology, an appointment with my oncologist, starting treatment. The waiting was excruciating as the weeks stretched into months but the positive part was that everyone that I encountered along my journey was fantastic, from the doctor’s assistants, to the techs, nurses and doctors. Everyone of them was empathetic, kind and professional.

Without that, and the support of my amazing husband, sister, the rest of my family and some pretty special friends, I don’t know how I would have made it through. But I did. And here I am 18 months later happy, healthy and living life to the fullest.

On October 6th I am running for myself, for my beautiful sister Andrea, for my mom who fought a brave battle with breast cancer for over 40 years and for all  women and girls.  Right now the statistics are that 1 in 8 of us will face this horrible disease in our lives. No one is immune - family history or not. None of us should have to live in fear of having ‘it’ happen - so let’s come together to make a change. Please run with us, donate what you can or support the cause by volunteering or spreading awareness- a little can go a long way to making a difference in the lives of many.

A Message From Both of Us:

We have been united in our support for one another every step of the way. And so, at the end of last year’s run, we decided we would work as a team to raise funds for breast cancer research.   In uniting, we hope to make an even greater contribution to creating a world without breast cancer.

For those of you who know us well, please support “Team On and Aim” when we run together this October in Kelowna, BC.