Annual Campain - February 2021
Closer than we think
We’re all closer to people with cancer than we might think. Just look around and do the math; you won’t need to look very far. It could be a relative, a friend, a colleague, or a neighbour. Someone you may have seen more often this year than a member of your own family.Sometimes being physically distanced allows us to get closer, but in other ways. Through confidences that we make on the phone that we wouldn’t have made in person. Or maybe via a screen, which became an open door to a world we wouldn’t have had access to otherwise.
This was the experience last year of thousands of beneficiaries of the Quebec Cancer Foundation. And although it may seem paradoxical given the circumstances, I would say that we have never been so close to people.
In 2020, whether by phone or online, we attained a level of presence unparalleled in the Foundation’s history.
Our Info-cancer Services have never been so much in demand, both by people with cancer and by their loved ones. This is proof positive that the demand is there and that our services meet a real need. We’ve put our new resource directory online to provide answers any time, day or night. One thing I’m particularly proud of is that a growing number of our complementary therapies have been adapted to a virtual format, making it possible to reach people who live in every part of the province, from the Gaspé Peninsula to Abitibi—something that would have been unthinkable in person, since we have no Regional Centres there.
And you know what? We intend to continue doing so. Because offering support on a daily basis also means adapting to the new reality. It means listening to people’s fears and needs. And it means reaching out to them wherever they are, when they need it the most. Whether it’s in the wards of an oncology unit or in their own living room, converted for the occasion into an art workshop or a home yoga studio.
Of course, no screen could ever transmit the human warmth you get from a sincere hug or the experienced hands of our massage therapists—which is why we will always prioritize in-person services. Our “accommodation service” which has been considered an essential service since the beginning of the crisis, has never interrupted its activities, and our teams are ready to do everything in their power to resume offering every one of our services in person as soon as it becomes possible.
But until then, with your support, we will use every means at our disposal to stay connected to our mission—and above all, to the men and women who are our raison d’être.
This is why I now invite you to renew your support in 2021 to help us to maintain our programming, both virtual and face-to-face, and also to improve it as soon as the opportunity to do so comes along. By doing this, you will not only be helping us get closer to people with cancer and their loved ones, you will also be helping us break their isolation by offering them information, psychosocial support and wellbeing. And in that way, you too will be getting closer to them.After all, we’re all closer to each other than we think. This year more than ever, let’s give ourselves the means to transform this human connection into resilience in the face of cancer.
Marco Décelles, CPA, CMA
Director General
In 2020
