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A Viking’s Challenge 2023 Recap

A Viking’s Challenge 4th Edition was March 4 & 5 and we couldn’t be happier with how the event unfolded.

In total, 36 people participated, running a combined total of 737 km, or the equivalent of 24.5 crossings of Lake Winnipeg. For the first time since the pandemic, Chris was able to be back on the lake with his friend Shawn in Gimli, MB this year, despite the ongoing treatments and side-effects that come with fighting a dangerous cancer.

We thank everyone who contributed to A Viking’s Challenge 2023. Your actions have made a powerful statement of support for Chris and fellow melanoma patients across CanadaTogether, we raise nearly $9,000 this year. Since its inception in 2020, the event has raised $50,000 to help assist patients reach the life- treatment they need.


The Weekend in Pictures

From top left: Chris Isfeld, Shawn Bjornsson and friends, Lisa Boldt, Rosemary Westie and friends, Joan Denroche, Rosemary Westie and family, Chris Isfeld, Shawn Bjornsson and friends, Jessica Drakul.

Thank You to our Sponsors!

Many thanks to the businesses who generously sponsored “A Viking’s Challenge” this year:

  • Bristol Myers Squibb
  • Ship and Plough Tavern
  • Pfizer
  • Merck Canada
  • Sanofi

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Get ready for A Viking’s Challenge 4th Edition!

In March of 2020, Chris Isfeld and his childhood friend Shawn Bjornsson completed a massive challenge. Three years after Chris was diagnosed with late stage melanoma and recovered from being partially paralyzed from the waist down, they ran 30km across frozen Lake Winnipeg and raised almost $20,000 for melanoma patients. 

One year later, they were facing a different kind of Viking’s challenge: a global pandemic that kept Chris from returning to Gimli to run on the lake with Shawn. But that didn’t stop them from getting people all over Canada to join them in running and to raise funds and awareness wherever they were. 

Last year, life threw Chris yet another curve-ball. A large mass was found on his right adrenal gland, forcing him to stop training to focus on his treatment.

Finally, this year, Chris is aiming to be back on the lake with his friend Shawn, despite the ongoing treatments and side-effects that come with fighting a dangerous cancer. Chris is again showing amazing fearlessness and grit by challenging himself both physically and mentally. By joining A Viking’s Challenge 2023 and pledging to run or walk, you will make a powerful statement of support for Chris and fellow melanoma patients across Canada.

All registrants will receive a charitable donation tax receipt and those who want one will receive a beautiful AVC medal. If you’d like a special ‘A Viking’s Challenge’ t-shirt or other merchandise, please visit our Etsy store to make a purchase. Make sure to place your order soon if you want your t-shirt in time for the event!

To learn more about Chris’s story and the inaugural event, click here.

A Message from Chris

When a successful treatment suddenly stops working, you can’t help but panic, especially when the only other options are clinical trials or major surgeries.

This year has been challenging, with plenty of bumps along the way. In July 2022, I got accepted into a promising trial run by a leading melanoma oncologist out of Princess Margaret’s Cancer Clinical Research Unit in Toronto. The trial required participants to have two or more active tumours so one could be surgically harvested and sent to a lab in the U.S. where they rapidly reproduce tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL). The surgery was challenging due to previous radiation treatments. Unfortunately, the trial was unsuccessful and the lab was unable to produce the cancer-fighting lymphocytes.

I want everyone to know that my spirits are still high and I’m far from throwing in the towel. I’ll be participating in a 4th edition of A Viking’s Challenge this March 4th on Lake Winnipeg and challenge everyone else to lace up and get active to support the Save Your Skin Foundation. I plan on being in Gimli for the weekend, but you can participate anywhere and in any way. I haven’t run since before my surgery and have no idea what I am capable of with my surgery-related hernia, but I promise to give it my all!

Event Details

When: March 4-5, 2023
Where: Anywhere in Canada. Chris and Shawn will be running in Gimli, MB, the largest Icelandic community outside of Iceland.
How: To participate, you must first register here and pledge to run a certain number of kilometres. We will keep a running tally of the number of kilometres pledged and see how many times we can “cross” Lake Winnipeg.

Each participant will have the option to get a free medal to commemorate their participation. 

As always, every dollar raised through this event will go directly to assisting melanoma, non melanoma skin cancer and ocular melanoma patients meet their everyday needs during treatment in the form of transportation, accommodation, child care and more.

So what are you waiting for? Register now and start training to channel your inner Viking!

 

 

 

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Hockey Fights Cancer Focuses on Save Your Skin Foundation This Year

Save Your Skin Foundation has been chosen to receive special focus during the Vancouver Canucks’s Hockey Fights Cancer Night!

 

This year’s Hockey Fights Cancer game will have a special focus and holds important meaning to a member of the Canucks family. In 2020, Natalie Miller’s mother, Janet, passed away from metastatic melanoma. Since her diagnosis, J.T. and Natalie have supported Save Your Skin Foundation. The Vancouver Canucks announced this morning that a $20,000 donation will be made to Save Your Skin Foundation on behalf of the Canucks for Kids Fund.

 

If you’d like to join us on Sat, Dec. 3rd at Rogers Arena, you can purchase your tickets using the following link and SYSF will get $10 from every ticket sold: https://offer.fevo.com/arizona-coyotes-ebylfkn-46c643. We will have a booth in section 111 so if you come to the game, make sure to come say hi! A video featuring SYSF founder Kathy Barnard will play during the game and our booth will be features as well.

 

On top of all this, the purple jerseys worn by the players during their warm-up session will be auctioned off with proceeds coming to SYSF. We are truly honoured by the generosity shown by the Vancouver Canucks and the J.T. Miller family, and by this wonderful opportunity to bring greater awareness to melanoma.

 

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Move for Melanoma 2022 – It’s a Wrap

A tremendous THANK YOU to all of our incredibly dedicated participants and generous donors!

74 participants and 20 teams across Canada took part in Move for Melanoma this year! We have been so moved and inspired by this incredible community of patients, families, and friends.

After the success of last year, we once again set ourselves an ambitious goal of raising $75,000. With your help, we ended up surpassing our goal once again this year!


To wrap up this monumental weekend, we’ve created the Recap Video below. We hope you will take a few moments to watch it as we pay tribute to our incredible participants, donors and sponsors across Canada.


We’d also like to highlight the three fundraising teams that raised the most this year.

Team Ocumel Canada

Based in Victoria, BC, Team Captain Nigel Deacon ran a marathon distance to inspire others to donate to this worthy cause. Together with his fellow team members Martin Dawes and Linda Sendall, they raised an incredible $11,760 for ocular melanoma patients.

Check out his team page here.

 


Team Ani’s Keepers

Based in Chilliwack, BC, Ani Davidson and her sisters challenged themselves to complete a combined 10,000 minutes of fitness between them in the month of September – and they crushed that goal, completing 11,820 minutes! Ani is currently undergoing treatment for melanoma.

Check out her team page here.


Team Mela-No-More – In Honour of Laura

Based in Vancouver, BC, Team Mela-No-More raised funds in honour of Laura, whom they lost after a long and courageous fight. Laura was a beautiful and strong woman, wife and mother. The team raised almost $5,370

Check out their team page here.


Finally, we’d like to acknowledge the many businesses that stepped up to support our event this year. Please show them your support!

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Move for Melanoma 2022

Move for Melanoma is an activity challenge that takes place across Canada. The goal of the event is to bring awareness to melanoma, non-melanoma skin cancer and ocular melanoma, while raising funds to support patients affected with these diseases when they need it most.

This year, the event will take place on September 23-25th, 2022. As always, participants will be able to choose a physical challenge of their choice to complete on the weekend of the event. Participants will form teams and, together with their friends and family, try to reach their personal fundraising goals.

To facilitate the whole thing, again this year, we will be using a custom website that allows people to register, donate, solicit donations, track progress and promote the event all in one place. The website also includes many resources for participants to help them get ready, and a Q&A page for more information.

If you’re interested in joining us, please visit Move for Melanoma 2022 and register now.

 

Save Your Skin Foundation is the only organization in Canada that supports skin cancer patients financially when they need it most. All the money raised through your donations goes directly to patients in the form of cab fares, treatment costs, flights, accommodation and other necessary but costly expenses incurred while receiving treatment.

Whether you’re a survivor who wants to bring hope to newly diagnosed patients, the family member or friend of a patient who wants to send a powerful message of solidarity, or a patient who wants to help change the face of cancer for ever, we invite you to take a stand against melanoma and to move with us this September!

Hand in hand, we fight melanoma together!

          

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Looking Back at 2021

Our 2021 Annual Reports are out now!

It’s always a rewarding experience to look back on the past year and see how much the Foundation has accomplished.

Despite another year amid the pandemic, Save Your Skin Foundation and Ocumel Canada have continued to grow partnerships, operations and services, and reach more people touched by melanoma, non-melanoma skin cancer and ocular melanoma.

We are extremely grateful to our community of patients, caregivers, healthcare providers and sponsors who continue to inspire and support us in our endeavors.

Click on the images below to view the reports:

 

 

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Get ready for A Viking’s Challenge 3rd Edition!

In March of 2020, Chris Isfeld and his childhood friend Shawn Bjornsson completed a massive challenge. Three years after Chris was diagnosed with late stage melanoma and recovered from being partially paralyzed from the waist down, they ran 30km across frozen Lake Winnipeg and raised almost $20,000 for melanoma patients. 

One year later, they were facing a different kind of Viking’s challenge: a global pandemic that kept Chris from returning to Gimli to run on the lake with Shawn. But that didn’t stop them from getting people all over Canada to join them in running and to raise funds and awareness wherever they were. 

This year, life has thrown Chris yet another curve-ball. A large mass was found on his right adrenal gland, forcing him to stop training to focus on his treatment. Though Chris is hopeful that the immunotherapy treatment that saved his life in 2017 will help him overcome this latest challenge, he needs our support!

Let’s show Chris he is not alone on this journey by joining A Viking’s Challenge 2022 and pledging to run or walk! By channeling our inner Vikings, we will make a powerful statement of support for Chris and fellow melanoma patients across Canada.

All registrants will receive a charitable donation tax receipt and those who want one will receive a beautiful AVC medal. To learn more about Chris’s story and the inaugural event, click here.

 

Event Details

When: March 3 – 6, 2022
Where: Again this year, because of the pandemic, the event will take place virtually, allowing participants to run any distance they choose from any location in Canada and beyond.
How: To participate, you must first register here and pledge to run a certain number of kilometres. We will keep a running tally of the number of kilometres pledged and see how many times we can “cross” Lake Winnipeg.

Each participant will have the option to get a free medal to commemorate their participation. Special t-shirts and other merchandise are also available for purchase in our Etsy store!

As always, every dollar raised through this event will go directly to assisting melanoma, non melanoma skin cancer and ocular melanoma patients meet their everyday needs during treatment in the form of transportation, accommodation, child care and more.

So what are you waiting for? Register now and start training to channel your inner Viking!

 

 

 

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With Thanks to All Move for Melanoma 2021 Participants, Donors, and Sponsors

A tremendous THANK YOU to all of our incredibly dedicated participants and generous donors!

95 participants and 29 teams across Canada took part in Move for Melanoma this year! We have been so moved and inspired by this incredible community of patients, families, and friends.

When we set the ambitious goal of raising $75,000 this year, we thought we might be aiming a little high. But clearly, we were right to dream big because, with your help, we ended up surpassing our goal!

To wrap up this monumental weekend, we’ve created the Recap Video below. We hope you will take a few moments to watch it as we pay tribute to our incredible participants, donors and sponsors across Canada.

 

We’d also like to highlight the five fundraising teams that raised the most.

Team Miller
Vancouver Canucks’ JT Miller and his wife Natalie fundraised in memory of Natalie’s mother who passed from melanoma last year.  We can’t thank them enough for their support over the last year. Check out the Team Miller page here.

Team Mela-No-More 
Based in Port Moody, BC, Team Captain Stefanie Lynch and her teammates organized a run/walk at Inlet Park and raised almost $11,000! Stefanie’s mother is currently fighting Stage 4 malignant melanoma. Check out her team page here.

Team The Eyes Have It
Based in Victoria, BC, Team Captain Nigel Deacon ran a marathon distance to inspire others to donate to this worthy cause. All together, his team raised an amazing $7,300 for ocular melanoma patients. Nigel was diagnosed with advanced ocular melanoma 10 years ago and now advocates for ocular melanoma patients across Canada.
Check out his team page here.

Team Stringer
Nicole and Michael Stringer hosted a virtual 3km or 5km run/walk in Red Deer Alberta and raised just under $5,000. Michael is currently fighting Stage 4 Melanoma. A heartfelt thank you to the Stringer Family. Check out their team page here.

The Laurence B. “For Life” Team
The Campbell River team, led by Laurence’s mother, Michelle, threw axes for 6 hours and raised almost $4,000. Amazing work everyone! Laurence is currently fighting ocular melanoma. Check out their team page here.

Move for Melanoma Sponsors

Finally, we’d like to acknowledge the many businesses that stepped up to support our event this year. Please show them your support!

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Move for Melanoma After Party

Join the funnest part of MOVE FOR MELANOMA this year by joining our VIRTUAL AFTER PARTY! Celebrate with the Save Your Skin team, donors and fellow participants! Everyone is welcome!

The After Party will take place on Sunday, September 26th, 2021 at 5pm PT | 8pm ET on a platform called Topia. If you attended our virtual Giving Hope Gala in the spring, then you will know that Topia is a fun, new, online chat platform that allows us to connect virtually in a more human way. You’ll easily be able to move in and out of conversations with other attendees like you would in person with the platform’s spatial video, while also exploring a world full of surprises.

In the meantime, click here to share, participate in, and stay up to date on the progress of our 3rd annual Move for Melanoma event!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What you’ll need:

  • A computer or a tablet – You’ll need a Windows or Mac desktop or laptop computer equipped with a camera, or a Android Tablet or Ipad. For the best experience on Android tablets please use “desktop mode” in Chrome. 
  • A supported web browser – Topia works best on Google Chrome, Edge, and Brave on desktop and laptop computers. For best results we recommend using one of these three browsers.
  • Headphones – There is ambient sound in Topia which is personal to you. Headphones ensure a great experience. Without headphones, higher volume can result in feedback for other guests or mixed sounds which isn’t fun for anyone.

 

How to join:

  • On September 26th at 5pm PT | 8pm ET, click on this link to join: https://topia.io/save-your-skin-foundation. Don’t bother trying to go on beforehand as it will not be available.
  • When you first go in, you will be asked to choose a display name.
  • Your browser will ask for permission to use your camera and audio. If you have Zoom/Teams/Skype open you won’t be able to do this, so please make sure they’re closed first.

 

What to do once you’re in:

  • You can move around the space using either mouse clicks or your arrow cursor buttons.
  • You hear and see people better the closer you are to their little “Topi,” or person.
  • If you walk away from people you hear and see them less. People “fade out” as they get farther away.
  • As you explore, notice when your cursor turns into a pointer. This indicates that the object your mouse is on has a function. Click to interact with the object. 
  • You can mute yourself or others by clicking the speaker icon in the top right corner of your video or theirs. When muted the speaker will turn from black to red.
  • To send a private message to someone at the gala, click on the envelope symbol on their video. If someone sends you a private message, the envelope symbol to the left of your screen will become red. 

 

For complete instructions on how to use Topia and join the party, click here!

 

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Ocumel Canada News!

The Ocumel Canada team has been very busy working on initiatives and strategies to help bring awareness to Ocular Melanoma (OM) and improve care pathways for patients across Canada.  In the spring we conducted a patient/caregiver survey with the intent to gather current information about primary and metastatic OM patient experiences across the country, from diagnosis and genetic testing options, to varying methods of treatment.

We deeply appreciate respondents’ time in filling out this survey, and we have now released a comprehensive report detailing their feedback.

Please click here to view the full report.  This data helps inform our work, and we share it with the treating physicians who handle our cases every day.  We work with treaters and treatment providers to create an ongoing and open dialogue which we believe will serve patients and their families in the most positive way.  We welcome any questions or feedback – please email ocumelcanada@saveyourskin.ca to get in touch!

And in other Ocumel Canada news…

 

We have expanded our participation in the annual SYSF event called “Move for Melanoma” – an activity challenge across Canada to raise funds for melanoma, non-melanoma skin cancer and ocular melanoma patients.  For the last two years OM patients and supporters have created their own teams on the Move for Melanoma platform, and they are welcome to do so again this year! But for those who may be just meeting us for the first time, or who might simply like to support Ocumel Canada with a donation, we have created Team Ocumel Canadaclick here to check it out.

Save Your Skin Foundation is the only organization in Canada that supports skin cancer and ocular melanoma patients financially when they need it most. All the money raised through donations goes directly to patients in the form of cab fares, treatment costs, flights, accommodation and other necessary but costly expenses incurred while receiving treatment.

To join the movement, our friend Laurence has shared his story and is a spokesperson and feature patient for this event.  Laurence has been fighting a battle with Ocular Melanoma for almost four years. Thanks to our Move For Melanoma fundraisers and donors, Save Your Skin Foundation can continue helping Laurence travel to receive a promising new treatment. Read Laurence’s story HERE.

Download these posters for print, and be ready to  register for Move for Melanoma 2021!

 

 

Please note – these resources are all available in French – email us at marianne@saveyourskin.ca for French.

 

ALSO!  Check out our new Ocumel Canada merchandise

Get your shirt today to help support Team Ocumel Canada and the work we do, supporting OM patients across Canada:

           

 

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