Hope Classic

Describing the camaraderie surrounding the Bearskin Airlines Hope Classic is hard to put into words for event chair Susan Childs.

"Women really know how to have fun and relax and this is about a common cause that all women are aware of," she said. "I don’t think there is a woman in Thunder Bay that has not been touched by someone with cancer and especially breast cancer."

The annual curling tournament – taking place this weekend at the Fort William Curling Club – has raised $1.7 million over the past 13 years, starting with $39,000 in 1997 and up to $210,000 in 2006.

"When we started out it was originally to make $5,000 for the breast cancer support group," said Childs. "When we made $39,000 it was like ‘wow.’ We were just five little peons trying to raise money to help some women … I don’t think we realized how big it was."

Since 2006, the funds raised have gone to the Linda Buchan Centre for Breast Screening and Assessment as part of a five-year commitment from the Hope Classic committee. The money has been used to buy equipment for the centre or education programs.

This year the centre is looking to invest in a breast MRI coil to allow for breast MRIs to be done at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Science Centre in one of their three MRI machines.

The MRI technology allows for great sensitivity in screening high-risk patients and getting a closer look at abnormalities found in other tests, said the Linda Buchan Centre’s lead radiologist Neety Panu.

"MRI is helpful in certain patient populations because it helps us answer questions about what we saw on the mammogram or what we saw on the ultrasound," Panu said.

The centre is also investing in MRI biopsy equipment, added Panu.

"We don’t want to be doing just MRI and then finding things and having to send people away to do a biopsy," she said.

Currently, patients needing an MRI have to travel to a city like Toronto; they’d come back to Thunder Bay and if they then had to have a biopsy, it would mean another trip out of town.

Panu is completing a fellowship in Breast and Oncological Imaging at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York City; she said having the capability to do breast MRIs is now part of the standard of care for breast assessment centres.

"There are centres smaller than ours that have the technology," she said. "It’s so important for the city and the region. In order to have proper comprehensive breast assessment, it involves screening mammography, it involves diagnostic mammography, it involves ultrasound and the new kid on the block is MRI. We really need it here because it will allow for complete assessment."

Childs said the breast MRI coil is a major piece of equipment and hopefully they can raise enough funds to help get it. However, the Hope Classic committee never goes into the event with a goal in mind.

"There are 270 curlers. Every curler has to raise $100 in pledges, so we know we’re guaranteed $27,000," Childs said. "Anything over that is a bonus … it’s tough economic times out there this year, but Thunder Bay is like that. Thunder Bay always comes through."
 
The Bearskin Airlines Hope Classic kicks off Feb. 5 at 5 p.m. and wraps up Sunday evening with closing ceremonies starting at 4:30 p.m.