In This Together fundraising campaign over halfway to goal for new chemo unit
Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Care Foundation plans to build unit at centre in St. John's
A fundraising campaign to build a new chemotherapy unit at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's has passed the halfway mark in just a few months.
Called In This Together, the campaign released a new video on Thursday of more than 500 local musicians joining together to sing the song One Voice to support the Dr. H. Bliss Murphy Cancer Care Foundation's initiative.
Kellie Walsh, artistic director of Shallaway, helped bring the idea to life.
"This song is kind of the foundation of who we are as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians," said Walsh, as "One Voice is about how we come together to make our place a better place."
CBC Newfoundland and Labrador joined local choirs Shallaway, Lady Cove, Newman Sound, Holy Heart Chamber Choir and the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra to create the video.
Much-needed space
Gen Bishop appears in the video, and has been battling three different kinds of cancer over the last seven years.
"I come to the cancer clinic very often, at least three to four times a month. And when you walk in through the cancer clinic doors, you see the volume of people in the waiting area, and there's so many that are touched by this disease," she said.
We have to join as a community to really support, to make this a wonderful place for everyone.- Gen Bishop
Bishop said with new treatments for people like her with stage four "incurable" cancer, "we are living longer" — as more people are affected by cancer every day as well.
"We have to join as a community to really support, to make this a wonderful place for everyone."
Tripling size
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, one in two Newfoundlanders and Labradorians will have cancer in their lifetime. It used to be one in three.
"That's an amazing statistic," said Gary Smith, chair of the cancer care foundation.
"But it actually goes beyond that, because we all know, when someone you know and love gets cancer everyone gets involved."
The new chemotherapy unit will be built on the third floor of the nuclear medicine centre, with a 10,214 square foot treatment facility and more space to meet future demand, including an in-house pharmacy.
That's almost three times the size of the current 3,500 square foot centre below the new space, which Smith said simply cannot handle the increasing number of cancer patients.
Karl Smith, chair of the In This Together campaign, said they are over halfway to the $5 million total needed, after the provincial government gave $1.5 million of the $6.5 million price tag. The Hebron Project Employers' Association donated $1.4 million.
"We're hopeful that by the end of this year we'll have the funds in place and we can just get started building," he said.
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
With files from Anthony Germain