Rudy and Patricia North donate $2.5M to OVCARE research team
Every three and a half hours another Canadian woman is diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Rudy and Patricia North want to change this.
The North’s have committed $2.5 million to OVCARE — an internationally recognized ovarian cancer research team that is working hard to battle ovarian cancer on all levels: prevention, early detection and treatment.
“We’re not patients, we’re just givers. We give to OVCARE to help fund the best research which we believe will lead to a cure.” – Patricia
The brainchild of Drs. Dianne Miller, David Huntsman and Blake Gilks the OVCARE program started on the back of a paper napkin in Vancouver General Hospital (VGH). The trio saw the extreme toll that ovarian cancer took on patients and their loved ones and wanted to help them, now.
And in its short history, the OVCARE team has fundamentally changed the way ovarian cancer is understood, studied and managed. The team made a pivotal discovery that ovarian cancer is not a single disease, yet five distinct subtypes that require different types of treatment. This is a lifeline for women whose cancer does not respond to traditional chemotherapy.
Another ground-breaking discovery is that ovarian cancer’s most common and dangerous form doesn’t arise in the ovaries but in the fallopian tubes. The OVCARE team realized that they could prevent many cases of this deadly disease by removing the fallopian tube(s) during hysterectomies and tubal ligations. This is now the standard treatment protocol in British Columbia.
These life-saving discoveries were made possible with the power of philanthropy.
“We give to support people because that’s where the real action is. Dr. Huntsman and the team there are the perfect example of a first-class team.” – Rudy
Our heartfelt thanks to Rudy and Patricia whose generosity is directly impacting the lives of the thousands of British Columbian women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year.
