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    Your donations support innovative cancer research and compassionate enhancements to patient care.

    “I speak about cancer. I ride my bike. I do these things because I want to change the story. I want a different ending.”

    In 2008, Patrick Sullivan lost his young son Finn to an extremely rare form of cancer, rhabdomyosarcoma. A few months later, he was approached by two close friends: “They told me about this fundraising bike ride to Seattle, the Ride to Conquer Cancer. They wanted to put a team in it – and do it in honour of Finn. That was the start of Team Finn.”

    Every member of Team Finn is inspired by a little boy who lived every moment of his short life to the fullest. Their distinctive pink jerseys read “Run. Jump. Bounce. Dance. Sing. Love. Smile. Ride,” words that celebrate Finn’s approach to every day.

    Finn showed how to live life with courage and joy, and his example has helped Team Finn achieve extraordinary success in raising funds for the BC Cancer Foundation. In just three years, they have raised over $1 million to support cancer research. As Finn’s father says, “Doctors couldn’t change Finn’s story. ‘Incurable’ was his ending. If I could change that for somebody else, then every moment of time is worth it.”

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    “I speak about cancer. I ride my bike. I do these things because I want to change the story. I want a different ending.”

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    February 2012 Blogs

    Written by Courteney Lai on Feb 27, 2012 BC Cancer Agency Research Centre , Terry Fox Laboratory

    The process of becoming a scientist is certainly a complicated one, maybe lifelong. A key part of this process I’ve experienced, that is just as important as learning the science and research methods, is mentorship.

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    Written by Courteney Lai on Feb 24, 2012 BC Cancer Agency Research Centre , Leukemia , Terry Fox Laboratory

    As my close family has, unfortunately, been affected by cancer, I can relate to that feeling of urgency and desire to accelerate research and better understand cancer. As a family member, I want to know that more effective and less toxic treatments are on the horizon. As a researcher, I want to discover the same thing.

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    Written by Courteney Lai on Feb 16, 2012 BC Cancer Agency Research Centre

    My search for a research laboratory focused on studying diseases immediately led me to the BC Cancer Agency Research Centre (BCCRC) and its Terry Fox Laboratory. I soon learned that the latter was a multidisciplinary group primarily focused on understanding leukemia and advancing treatments. When I was offered a co-op work placement in this lab, I accepted without hesitation.

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    Written by Courteney Lai on Feb 13, 2012 BC Cancer Agency Research Centre

    After high school, I was accepted to the University of British Columbia (UBC). I knew I wanted to focus on cell biology and genetics, study the effects of genetics on how cells work, and how this influences health and disease. But I was at a loss for how this could become my career path.

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    Written by Courteney Lai on Feb 10, 2012 BC Cancer Agency Research Centre

    Continuing from my previous post, what ultimately helped to navigate my academic career towards science was a fantastic science teacher I had in Grade 10. He did two things that caught my attention most.

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    Written by Courteney Lai on Feb 09, 2012 BC Cancer Agency Research Centre

    My name is Courteney Lai, and I am a PhD student in the Terry Fox Laboratory at the BC Cancer Agency Research Centre in Vancouver. I am supervised by Dr. Keith Humphries, who is the Director of the Terry Fox Laboratory, and Dr. Sam Aparicio (a previous guest blogger, too), the Head of Molecular Oncology.

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    Written by Douglas Nelson on Feb 01, 2012 Announcing new guest blogger

    Thank you to Dr. Julian Lum for sharing your experience at the BC Cancer Agency Vancouver Island Centre with us. Your immunology research is interesting, and your passion and dedication to your work is inspiring. Your post about cancer’s “sweet tooth” was an eye opener as well.

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