2008 Cedars Cancer Institute Dragon Boat launch
On Saturday, September 13th, Quebec Premier Jean Charest and Lance Armstrong both gave motivational speeches to kick-off the Cedars Cancer Institute Fuller Landau ‘Rain or Shine’ Dragon Boat Race & Festival at the Lachine Canal.
Over 700 paddlers and hundreds of volunteers and fans participated in the event, many of them cancer survivors. The winning dragon boat was the Samcon Dragons. "We are proud to join the community today to slay the dragon called cancer," said the Hon. Dr. Arthur T. Porter, Director General and CEO of the McGill University Health Centre. "By teaming up, we’re empowering better diagnostics, treatments and cures for all forms of cancers, as well as empowering our spirits."
2007 ‘Rain or Shine’ Dragon Boat Race
About the Cedars Cancer Institute
Based in Montreal, Cedars Cancer Institute is a hospital-based charity whose priority is to ensure comprehensive cancer-care and funding to patients and health care professionals at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) specifically the adult sites:
- the Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH),
- Montreal General Hospital (MGH)
- and, through its Sarah Cook Fund to Pediatric Oncology at the Montreal Children’s Hospital (MCH).
Since its inception in 1966, the Cedars Cancer Institute has raised over $26 million in much-needed funds to: purchase state-of-the-art diagnostic oncology equipment; improve facilities for treatment and care of the cancer patients; offer cancer patients and their families free, psycho-social, practical and humanitarian assistance through its CanSupport program; and support cancer research, provide fellowships for visiting professors and improve public awareness of cancer related issues through lectures and education.
- Along with Cedars CanSupport, groundbreaking initiatives have included:
- the creation of the Cedars Breast Clinic of the MUHC, an internationally-renowned facility providing comprehensive one-stop care for women in the screening, detection and diagnosis of breast cancer;
- Sarah’s Floor in pediatric hematology oncology in-patient unit at the Montreal Children’s Hospital;
- funding of a state-of-the-art Pharmacy for the Oncology Day Centre at the MGH; funding for the Intra-operative MRI for the Montreal Children’s Hospital;
- the Henry. R. Shibata Fellowship Fund supporting on-going basic and clinical research in oncology at the MUHC;
- The Edward J. Tabah Visiting Professorship in Surgical Oncology
- and the Vivian Saykaly Visiting Professorship in Medical Oncology.