December can be a difficult month for those facing challenges in their lives. Every day until Christmas, we will be posting messages of Hope to help alleviate those winter blues.
Click on each number below to view the message of the day:
To all those who participated in Move for Melanoma by raising awareness and funds in their communities, a huge thank you! We couldn’t have done it without you! We are inspired by all of the creative activities that SYSF supporters did in the Move for Melanoma activity challenge throughout the weekend of September 13-16, 2019.
We’d also like to thank all those who supported Move for Melanoma by making a donation, sponsoring an event or spreading the word. Thanks to you, the event was a monumental success! Your dedication to the fight against skin cancer will help Save Your Skin Foundation continue to support Canadians living with non-melanoma skin cancer, melanoma and ocular melanoma. Know that you have made a difference!
Thank you to our Sponsors:
Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada | Beach City Crossfit | HollisWealth | Madlab School of Fitness | AXED Throwing Club | Lululemon | Code Sports
Thanks to the many participants who sent us pictures of themselves and their teammates taking part in Move for Melanoma, we were able to create a beautiful recap video of the event. The BMS Cycling Team completed a 600 kilometre ride over the weekend – watch SYSF Founder Kathy Barnard roll across the finish line with them!
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All across Canada teams of runners, bikers, hikers, and even laser tag enthusiasts are all preparing to MOVE FOR MELANOMA next weekend!
In our weekend-long fund-and-awareness-raising activity challenge Save Your Skin supporters will be all hands on deck to make this event great.
Friday September 13 kicks off Move for Melanoma with a team of cyclists biking 600 kilometres in the Montreal area, wrapping up the ride on Monday September 16 in conjunction with two shorter rides, 85 kms and 55 kms, in which our very own Kathy Barnard will be biking with her husband alongside the BMS team.
On the Saturday and Sunday in cities all over, participants will do their favourite activities in the name of melanoma patient support – in addition to the run and bike routes people have planned, we have crossfit teams, kayaking, city tour walking, and axe-throwing!
Haven’t yet registered?
Click on any image below to see what these teams are doing:
Save Your Skin Foundation notes the unique accessibility of the Challenge as an important part of campaign. “Skin cancer can happen to anyone. It’s caused by exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays from sunlight or tanning beds. We therefore wanted a campaign that was accessible to anyone”, explains Kathleen Barnard, President and Founder, Save Your Skin Foundation and stage four melanoma survivor. “People have come up with very creative ideas that work within their Challenge comfort zones. One team is doing CrossFit, another is doing an axe-throwing contest and I’ll be cycling 55 kilometres in Montreal on Monday!”
Stay tuned for more photos and excitement from the events next weekend. We will also post thanks to our generous sponsors, including:
Bristol-Meyers Squibb Canada, Montreal, Quebec
AXED Throwing Club, Thornbury, Ontario
Beach City CrossFit, Penticton, BC
MadLab School of Fitness, Vancouver, BC
And many more!
As Melanoma Awareness Month draws to a close, we would like to thank all of our family and friends, volunteers, partners and supporters for their continued dedication to upholding the work done by the team at Save Your Skin Foundation. We are dedicated to providing a community of oncology patient and caregiver support throughout the entire continuum of care, from prevention and diagnosis to survivorship. And with your help, that is what we are able to do.
Thanks to all who have donated to the upcoming Team Save Your Skin events – Rosemary’s D-Day 44 Challenge Run in Normandy next week, and to Chris’ Vikings Challenge Run Across Frozen Lake Winnipeg in March 2020. Thanks also to all participants joining our MOVE for MELANOMA event this September – the teams are rolling in!
We were absolutely overwhelmed by the generosity of those who attended our Giving Hope Gala & Auction in Toronto on May 1st. The work we are able to do for patients is a direct result of your support, and for that support we are so grateful. Have a look at our Photo Gallery! Here is a sneak peek:
On September 13 – 16, 2019, Save Your Skin Foundation is co-hosting a special Canada-wide fundraising event called MOVE FOR MELANOMA, a weekend-long challenge where teams participate in the activity of their choice (get creative!) while fundraising for the fight against melanoma. Pick your city/community, pick your activity, and ready set go – Get MOVING for MELANOMA!
What is it?
Move for Melanoma challenges all Canadians to reach their own personal movement challenge (ex. walking, running, cycling, yoga, family activities, or other) while raising awareness and funds to support Canadians touched by melanoma, non-melanoma skin cancer, and ocular melanoma.
How to Get Involved
We’re asking all of our close friends and patients to become Team Leaders to participate in Move for Melanoma. Our team will help you organize the event, will create a personalized, easy-to-use fundraising platform just for you, and support you in getting the word out. Anyone interested can check out our customizable fund raising platform OR email our Team Save Your Skin coordinator Taylor Tomko at taylorkathleen@saveyourskin.ca
Fund Raising
Funds raised through the Move for Melanoma challenge will go directly to helping Canadian melanoma, skin cancer, and ocular melanoma patients by supporting the work of the foundation and the patients we help both emotionally and financially, and advocating for all patients to have timely, equal access to life-saving treatments and therapies through health policy work.
Learn more about MOVE FOR MELANOMA – Visit the official fundraising page HERE!
May is Melanoma Awareness Month and it’s the perfect time of year to review a few easy steps we can all take to Be Sun Safe!
Join us in spreading the word about Melanoma Month by using one of our facebook banners as your cover photo! They are available for download HERE:
Help us share the message about Sun Safety! Download our Sun Safety infographics by clicking on the images below and share with your friends and family!
Learn how to perform a monthly skin self-exam! When caught early, skin cancer is very treatable. 
For those living with melanoma, support can be vital to the healing process. Save Your Skin Foundation provides a collection of resources as well as several ways for patients to connect with others or with private support. If you know someone touched by melanoma, please help them to connect with us.
We provide one-on-one support through Founder Kathy Barnard. We also provide support from other patients and survivors through our initiative “I’m Living Proof”
Click HERE for a summary of the ways you can connect with other patients, survivors, and caregivers touched by melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, and ocular melanoma.
If you’re interested in what Save Your Skin is working on for Melanoma Awareness Month, check out our official press release, which includes vital information about melanoma rates in Canada, prevention and detection, and how to support those battling skin cancer.
Click here to watch our new video cut about sun safety and skin cancer awareness:
Join us for this free webinar, which reviews the latest news and clinical data related to melanoma treatment in the adjuvant setting, as presented in the 2018 conference season.
‘Adjuvant’ refers to patients with a stage II or stage III diagnosis. The majority of adjuvant patients typically undergo surgery to have their tumour(s) removed, but are not given immunotherapy or targeted therapy to prevent recurrence of the disease despite a known high-risk of relapse and mortality. Melanoma is an aggressive cancer; stage III melanoma means the cancer has spread from skin cells into the lymphatic system, and poses a dangerous risk for spread to organs, which is what depicts a stage IV diagnosis.
Dr. Claveau shares his key insights into what the landscape of adjuvant melanoma immuno-oncology treatment looks like for the near future in Canada. Dr. Adrian Gunaratne details the science behind targeted therapy and what is coming for Canadian melanoma patients in the adjuvant setting with a BRAF positive mutation. The discussion continues with a patient and a caregiver both having had treatment access challenges in the adjuvant melanoma setting, and how their experiences impacted their lives and that of their families.
Presenters:
On September 26, 2018, you may have seen a special insert in the paper version of the National Post across the country, featuring eight pages of informative articles about immunotherapy, an innovative treatment proving successful in several cancer indications. This special content is the result of a collaboration between sponsoring funders, patient group representatives, and the folks at a group called Patient Diaries. Over the years, Patient Diaries has coordinated several series such as this, raising awareness of various diseases and their effective treatments. This time they chose to highlight Immuno-Oncology.
Researchers and clinicians treating metastatic melanoma have been seeing success with these therapies for about ten years, but the growing use of and experimentation with them in recent years has been the topic of discussion at countless oncology conferences and treatment centres around the world. In fact, just last month the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation: immunotherapy.
Save Your Skin Foundation openly discusses the need for access to these treatments by melanoma patients across Canada, and we jumped on the opportunity to be the primary patient group sponsor of this feature, sharing our collective patient experience with these therapies. On page six of the insert there was an article in which both Kathy Barnard and Natalie Richardson of Save Your Skin were interviewed. We were also given half a page to display informative anecdotes about ourselves and raise awareness of our ongoing support of skin cancer patients.
In addition to the paper version of the Therapeutic Spotlight, a digital space has been placed on the National Post website. SYSF awareness spots and our patient video from May 2018 can be seen throughout the Immuno-Oncology board – please feel free to take a look around. There are additional informative articles about innovative treatments for lung cancer, leukemia, and breast cancer.
There is also a blog written by Natalie Richardson, melanoma survivor and Managing Director of SYSF, discussing the barriers to treatment access that many Canadian patients face. Click here to read the blog: Cancer Patients Receive Unequal Treatment Depending on Stage or Postal Code
To see what else SYSF is talking about, click here to visit our MEDIA page!
Save Your Skin has the opportunity to submit patient feedback to the pCODR process for the two treatments coming to the Adjuvant setting for Melanoma patients in Canada. To learn more about the drug approval process and our involvement as a patient representation group, please visit our page: “Let’s Chat: Patient Submissions and Discussion”
We believe the ability of stage I, II, and II melanoma patients to receive innovative treatments is key to survival, and to the reduction of progression to stage IV disease.
To inform our upcoming submission, we have created a short survey and request that any and all patients touched by melanoma complete the survey to have their voices heard. This survey is open globally, to all stage melanoma patients at any point in their journey; but we request that IF you are a metastatic patient taking the survey, but were diagnosed at stage 1, 2 or 3 could you please take some time to remember back to those days and fill in what you can in the survey pertaining to those times. Were you offered a treatment, were you advised to “wait and watch” and what were those times like for you and your family.
This anonymous survey is now closed. We thank all who shared their time and experience in responding to the survey. Stay tuned for news of our completed submission to pCODR and INESSS.
If you have any questions or feedback about this topic or the survey itself, please email info@saveyourskin.ca
Thank you!
At Save Your Skin Foundation we are always looking for new and innovative ways to increase knowledge and support for Melanoma Patients and Caregivers.
After extensive review we have found an amazing online forum in HealthUnlocked. HealthUnlocked is a global peer-to-peer support network. We have joined with HealthUnlocked to create a community called “Melanoma Wellness Canada.” It is a secure platform for patients and caregivers to connect with other Canadians touched by melanoma. Within HealthUnlocked you also have the ability to connect with other melanoma communities from around the world.
The discussions that happen in the SYSF community are moderated by our staff, but the conversation is open to any HealthUnlocked members who wish to participate. We will keep you updated on events and news from Save Your Skin Foundation, plus new and alternative resources to help patients cope with life after a melanoma diagnosis – and we have even started a book club to share recommended readings!
You will recognize us by our logo; we look forward to chatting with you more. You will begin to see information about HealthUnlocked around our website, and you are welcome to contact us anytime with questions or feedback at lyanne@saveyourskin.ca
Melanoma Wellness Canada will be officially launched this Cancer Survivors Day on Sunday, June 3, 2018.
To connect to our conversations on the home page of Melanoma Wellness Canada please click HERE!
We look forward to working with you to develop a great Melanoma resource. Hand in Hand We Fight Melanoma Together.
813-800 Vista Park
Penticton BC V2A 0B2
Email: info@saveyourskin.ca
Phone: 1.800.460.5832
Charitable Reg. #857756589RR0001
