Boost for kid's cancer

Foundation donates $1.5 million to build paediatric research centre

By Cynthia Chang

The Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta has donated $1.5 million to Reach! to create a new paediatric cancer research centre at the University of Calgary.

The new centre will be named after the Hughes family of Calgary, who made the lead donation of $750,000 to the foundation in 2005.

“Being a part of building this research centre is important to me on so many levels,” said Calgary lawyer Joni Hughes, who is a foundation board member. Hughes’s son Paddon, who was diagnosed with brain cancer seven years ago, underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation and is now cancer free, studying engineering at Queen’s University.
“Research is the only answer to cancer. It is the only way we can ensure that other families won’t have to experience what we have.”

The Hughes Children’s Cancer Research Centre will focus on many aspects of childhood cancer including high-risk cancers. Equipped with state-of-the-art technology, it will house basic cancer scientists, researchers and clinicians who will investigate the molecular makeup of cancer cells.
“This centre is a boon to Albertans,” said Dr. Steve Robbins, acting co-director of the Southern Alberta Cancer Research Institute.

“Bringing gifted cancer clinicians under the same roof as basic cancer scientists means that people from all levels of the cancer continuum will be looking at this problem every day, each with a unique perspective, and sharing that perspective and expertise with others.”
The centre will also focus on experimental therapeutics of high-risk cancers in the hopes of finding cures that will impact all cancers.

“We believe that this research centre will help make Calgary more attractive for the next generation of paediatric oncologists, and in doing so, increase the possiblity of finding cures,” said Christine Wandzura, founder and CEO of the Kids Cancer Care Foundation of Alberta.

The Hughes centre, to be located at the U of C’s Health Research Innovation Centre, will be a key component of the Southern Alberta Cancer Research Institute, a partnership of the Alberta Cancer Board and the University of Calgary.

Reach! is the joint fundraising initiative of the U of C and the Calgary Health Region.