Our BMO Ride for Cancer community has done it again.
On June 24, riders and donors came together for the biggest summer match in the 12-year history of this QEII Foundation event. Together, they surpassed the J & W Murphy Foundation’s generous $300,000 matching challenge, creating a one-day impact of $1,000,057 for QEII cancer care.
With 1,929 donations made in a single day, the response was extraordinary.
This milestone means our BMO Ride community has now exceeded its original June goal of raising $600,000 to complete funding of minimal residual disease (MRD) technology for the QEII Health Sciences Centre — a groundbreaking precision oncology tool that will help clinicians detect traces of cancer that remain after treatment and monitor patients with unprecedented accuracy.
Thanks to the J & W Murphy Foundation, our BMO Ride participants, their supporters and several QEII Foundation donors, we’re proud to announce that MRD is now fully funded. Better yet, every dollar raised beyond our first $600,000 goal for MRD will accelerate additional cancer care priorities being supported through this year’s BMO Ride for Cancer cause.
“This achievement belongs to everyone who continues to show up for cancer patients and their families,” says Scott MacIntyre, BMO Ride for Cancer volunteer co-chair. “We’re especially grateful to the J & W Murphy Foundation for inspiring this challenge and helping create such an extraordinary day of giving. When we launched BMO Ride for Cancer in 2015, we raised $180,000 in our inaugural year. To see thousands of people come together and generate this kind of impact in a single day is truly remarkable.”
For fellow event co-chair Catherine Campbell, the record-breaking day reflects what has always set BMO Ride for Cancer apart: the people behind it.
“Because of this community, patients in Atlantic Canada will benefit from cutting-edge technology that can help detect cancer recurrence earlier,” says Catherine. “That’s something worth celebrating. Every donation represents someone who chose to take action on behalf of a loved one, friend, colleague or neighbour affected by cancer. If this is any indication of what’s ahead in our grand finale year, we’re just getting started.”
Longtime rider, donor and top fundraiser Dr. Howard Conter said yesterday’s success demonstrates the community’s commitment to bringing world-leading cancer technologies to Atlantic Canada’s largest and most specialized cancer treatment hospital, the QEII Cancer Centre.
“Every person who donated is helping move cancer care forward,” says Dr. Conter. “Minimal residual disease technology has the potential to save and change lives by helping us detect cancer sooner, monitor treatment more effectively and make better decisions for patients. I’m incredibly proud of what our community accomplished together so far. At the end of the day, this is about buying more birthdays, more graduations, more weddings and more time with the people we love.”
Fully funding MRD is a defining milestone for this year’s BMO Ride, but the impact doesn’t stop there.
As BMO Ride for Cancer gears up for our grand finale year, MRD is the first of several cancer care projects that our riders and donors will help make possible through their fundraising efforts. More exciting announcements are still to come as we continue our collective mission to transform cancer care at the QEII.
To the J & W Murphy Foundation and to everyone who donated, fundraised, shared our message and championed this challenge: thank you. Your support made history and your impact will be felt by cancer patients and families for years to come.
Proudly hosted by the QEII Foundation, BMO Ride for Cancer is one of the top three peer-to-peer cycling events in Canada. Since 2015, our BMO Ride community has raised more than $15 million net and counting – funding cancer-fighting technology, equipment and spaces at the QEII Cancer Centre and impacting the care and treatment journeys of nearly every cancer patient in Nova Scotia.
