Close to 50 per cent of all Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. One in four Canadians will die of the disease. Around 60 per cent of high-priority cancer research projects were not funded in 2016.
These sobering statistics were released by the Canadian Cancer Society on June 20 – but there’s good news too: survival rates have increased from 25 per cent in the 1940s to 60 percent today, a number both the Terry Fox Research Institute and the Terry Fox Foundation are determined to keep improving by investing in top-tier cancer research across the country and internationally.
There has been tremendous success in increasing five-year survival rates for some cancers, such as thyroid (98%), testicular (96%), prostate (95%), melanoma (88%), female breast (87%) and Hodgkin lymphoma (85%). However survival rates for some cancers have remained stubbornly low, such as pancreatic (8%), lung and bronchus (17%), liver (19%), and brain (24%). These are the areas we are focusing on to find cures for all cancers.
In 2016, the Terry Fox Research Institute and the Terry Fox Foundation invested $22.9 million dollars into research projects across the country with a focus on hard-to-treat cancers. These include:
Terry’s dream was to fund research to cure cancer, and he inspired us with that dream. We believe that it is through research that cures to cancer will be found, and survival rates for even the most challenging cancers will continue to increase.