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you are here ANNUAL REPORT 2012–2013 2013 / ANNUAL REPORT 2012 / research 2 hospital 4 camp 6 scholarships 8 fundraising 10 volunteers 12 our leaders to you 14 6 ways you can help 15 CER CARE FOUNDATION OF ALBERTA OF ALBERTA CER CARE FOUNDATION you are here 16 raising funds – improving lives 20 KIDS CAN thank you 22 2 you are here changing children’s lives 2013 / You are here igniting joy in the hearts of ANNUAL REPORT 2012 children; inspiring / innovative research and health care; and empowering cancer survivors to live their dreams. OF ALBERTA CER CARE FOUNDATION KIDS CAN 1 research you are bringing hope to children with cancer Campbell was two when he started fussing while in his car seat. If Mom or Dad didn’t angle the car seat just right, his legs would fall asleep and he would start screaming. They thought it was a bit bizarre but they also thought, “He’s two, and two-year-olds can be impossible.” It wasn’t until they were visiting 1. Cancer-killing viruses Grandma Marian one spring day that Researchers in Dr. Beaudry’s they began to realize the severity lab are investigating viruses of the problem. Running across known for attacking cancer the living room, Campbell fell and cells, while leaving healthy cells + wasn’t able to get up and walk. alone and boosting the immune His mom’s nurse’s intuition was system to fight cancer. With 60 screaming, so she took Campbell your support, these researchers new children’s cancer research to the Alberta Children’s Hospital, are systematically testing for studies are in the works where a bone scan revealed a viruses that show promise for because of you. grapefruit-sized tumour on the treating neuroblastoma. adrenal gland of his right kidney. 2. Metabolomics There were also tumours along his Using the science of high-powered hearing aids, which femurs, pelvis, ribs and neck. metabolomics, a system for he hides with his long, freestyle- measuring the metabolites skier hair. Campbell is also missing Campbell was diagnosed with many adult teeth and requires stage 4 neuroblastoma and Ken (molecules) of a person’s cells to determine their overall health extensive orthodontic work, jaw and Jennifer Laidlaw learned that surgery and implants. their two-year-old son had only status for different diseases, a five to 10 per cent chance of Dr. Beaudry is learning to predict Dr. Beaudry hopes to create a making it. which children will survive with better future for kids like Campbell less therapy and which high-risk by improving their chances of That was 10 years ago, and children will not respond to surviving and by developing although Campbell survived, therapy at all – hopefully, all targeted therapies that cause 70 per cent of children with high- with a simple blood test one day. fewer long-term side effects. risk neuroblastoma do not. This is His hope is that, one day, with after enduring treatment protocols 3. Resistant molecules With your support, these your help, no child will ever face similar to Campbell’s. Scientists the odds Campbell did. still do not understand why only researchers are also beginning 2013 to identify rogue molecules that / 30 per cent of children with high- risk neuroblastoma survive and help neuroblastoma cells resist why 15 per cent fail to respond treatment. By understanding to treatment at all. how these molecules work, Dr. Beaudry hopes to uncover Dr. Paul Beaudry* is trying to the secrets of destroying them. ANNUAL REPORT 2012 / change this. Today, Campbell is a healthy With the help of a $300,000 Kids teenage boy who loves golfing Cancer Care research award, and freestyle skiing. As with made possible by you, Dr. Beaudry most childhood cancer survivors, is investigating three new however; Campbell lives with approaches to diagnosing and long-term side effects of treatment. treating neuroblastoma. He has serious hearing deficits CER CARE FOUNDATION OF ALBERTA OF ALBERTA CER CARE FOUNDATION and, at 14, he’s already wearing KIDS CAN COMMUNITY OUTREACH | RIDE FOR A LIFETIME | DAD & DAUGHTER GALA | CAMP SUNRISE | DONATIONS | VOLUNTEERS | CAMP SUNMAKER | RESEARCH | HOSPITAL PROGRAMS | SCHOLARSHIPS | FUNDRAISING | CAMP KINDLE | PIZZA NIGHT | FAMILY *Dr. Paul Beaudry is a pediatric cancer surgeon at the Alberta Children’s Hospital and a researcher at the Hughes Children’s 2 Cancer Research Centre at the University of Calgary. Although Campbell survived, 70% of kids with high-risk neuroblastoma do not. Dr. Paul Beaudry is trying to understand why. you are here 2013 improving / ANNUAL REPORT 2012 the odds / Beaudry photo: Unique Perspectives Photography Beaudry photo: Unique Perspectives Campbell photo: KCC archives for kids Thank you! With your support, Kids Cancer Care made another $300,000 gift to the experimental and applied therapeutics program at the University of Calgary and Alberta Children’s Hospital, where there are currently more than 60 new research studies in the works. CER CARE FOUNDATION OF ALBERTA OF ALBERTA CER CARE FOUNDATION COMMUNITY OUTREACH | RIDE FOR A LIFETIME | DAD & DAUGHTER GALA | CAMP SUNRISE | DONATIONS | VOLUNTEERS | CAMP SUNMAKER | RESEARCH | HOSPITAL PROGRAMS | SCHOLARSHIPS | FUNDRAISING | CAMP KINDLE | PIZZA NIGHT | KIDS CAN FAMILY 3 hospital you are helping teenage girls to see their inner beauty “One girl was feeling quite shy and nervous. She was wearing a hat she never took off, but slowly she inched the cap up. It took about 20 minutes for her to finally take it off. It was the first time I’d ever seen her without her hat. The transformation three hours later was unbelievable.”– Chantal When cancer shatters your What transpired that evening “The energy in the room was innocence and high-dose could not have been better palpable,” says Chantal. “These chemotherapy strips away orchestrated. Gradually, the walls girls were beaming with an inner your strength and vitality and, came down and the girls began to beauty and confidence that was eventually, your hair, remembering enjoy each other. They began to grounding them in their own who you are inside is vital. see the inner strength and beauty strength. It wasn’t about makeup. With your support, seven teenage they thought cancer had stolen. It was about a deep connection to girls, ravaged by cancer treatments, They saw it in themselves and in themselves and to each other. The enjoyed an evening of self- each other. makeup was just a tool to help discovery through the Look Good The girls’ mothers were asked them get there.” Feel Better program at the Alberta to leave before the session From B.C., Jenna and her mother Children’s Hospital. Volunteer began. When they returned three stayed at Ronald McDonald House cosmeticians led the girls through hours later, it was a different last fall, while Jenna received an empowering session on how to room. “We’ll never forget it,” says treatments as an out-patient. manage the appearance-related Paula Thomas, whose 15-year-old “Every morning before clinic, Jenna side effects of their cancer daughter Jenna took part in the would take out her kit and go treatments with makeup, wigs and program. “It was so inspiring through her makeup regime,” says funky headwear. to see those girls, shining and Paula. “It was so good for her.” “The girls were so nervous at first,” confident. So uplifting.” Diagnosed with acute myeloid recalls Chantal Newman, a child Each girl, now shining in her leukemia last August, Jenna needs own power, was ready for a all the goodness life has to offer. professional photo shoot, which She underwent a bone marrow You helped brought the evening to a close. transplant last December and has spent the better part of a year in the hospital. “We were just coming up to her 100th day, post-transplant, and 2013 / 7 getting ready to go home when beautiful teenage girls she relapsed,” says Paula. “She see their inner beauty. was re-admitted to the hospital the same day she was supposed to leave.” life specialist at the hospital who ANNUAL REPORT 2012 / coordinated the event with her Although cancer continues to co-worker Emily Synnott. “They challenge her, Jenna is strong and were sitting around, not speaking determined. “I’ve done this before,” or looking at each other. I wanted she said to her mother when they to get in there and make it better, received the news of her relapse. but I knew the only way through it “I can do it again.” was to allow them to experience it.” CER CARE FOUNDATION OF ALBERTA OF ALBERTA CER CARE FOUNDATION KIDS CAN COMMUNITY OUTREACH | RIDE FOR A LIFETIME | DAD & DAUGHTER GALA | CAMP SUNRISE | DONATIONS | VOLUNTEERS | CAMP SUNMAKER | RESEARCH | SCHOLARSHIPS | HOSPITAL PROGRAMS | FUNDRAISING | CAMP KINDLE | PIZZA NIGHT | FAMILY 4 “I’ve done this before, I can do it again.” —Jenna Fifteen-year-old Jenna is finding strength on her cancer journey through the Look Good Feel Better program. you are here 2013 ensuring kids / with cancer ANNUAL REPORT 2012 receive better / Photo: Courtesy of Alberta Children’s Hospital archives Alberta Children’s Photo: Courtesy of Special thanks to the Canadian care and a big thanks to the volunteer Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance cosmeticians and child life specialists, Association Foundation for developing Emily and Chantal, for giving Jenna and her the Look Good Feel Better program friends a special moment to shine. CER CARE FOUNDATION OF ALBERTA OF ALBERTA CER CARE FOUNDATION COMMUNITY OUTREACH | RIDE FOR A LIFETIME | DAD & DAUGHTER GALA | CAMP SUNRISE | DONATIONS | VOLUNTEERS | CAMP SUNMAKER | RESEARCH | SCHOLARSHIPS | HOSPITAL PROGRAMS | FUNDRAISING | CAMP KINDLE | PIZZA NIGHT | KIDS CAN FAMILY 5 camp you are giving kids a childhood Amina remembers a dark, rainy night in Somalia, when three masked militia men burst through the front door and gunned down her father.

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