The 8th annual Climb for Cancer fundraiser supports Leukemia & Lymphoma research at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, taking place at True North Climbing on Saturday, May 13th, 2017.
As a four-hour competitive rock climbing speed marathon, our team of 4 will be climbing hard and fast to beat out other teams for the highest distance climbed. Furthermore, for every dollar raised, our team gets a bonus of 2 extra feet.
The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre has 12 site groups and 26 specialty clinics, and almost 3,000 staff who see over 400,000 patient visits every year. Its 800,000 square feet house 130 inpatient beds, 373,000 square feet of research space and 17 radiation treatment machines, making it one of the largest comprehensive cancer treatment facilities in the world and the largest radiation treatment centre in Canada.
Princess Margaret sees over 1,000 patients every day and has the capacity to deliver diagnostic, treatment and follow-up care to close to 200,000 patients and their families every year. In 2010, the centre saw 18,103 new patients. Among the services provided this past year, they delivered 6,191 cancer surgeries, as well as 29,801 outpatient chemotherapy treatments, 10,058 courses of radiation treatment, and 257 stem cell transplants.
Through ongoing research, education and innovation, Princess Margaret continues to be on the frontiers of medical, surgical and radiation oncology, embracing the latest technology and international best-practices and setting standards for patient care.
In previous years, we competed in Climb for Cancer as two sister teams: Acrophobes Anonymous and Flaggin' Awesome. Acrophobes Anonymous raised $2,080 and climbed 13,468 feet and placed 4th overall. Flaggin' Awesome raised an incredible $2,417 and climbed 16,544 feet, placing 2nd overall!
This year, we are combining our two sister teams into a single team: Flaggin' Acrophobes. With a bit of new blood and new goals, we are planning on climbing over 18,000 feet (that's about 10 times the height of the CN Tower) and raising over $2000! To meet those goals we are training hard, but we can't do it without your help. Please sponsor us and help us push to new heights.
The captain of our team, Emile is a veteran climber who is rumoured to be a 15th century ninja from the planet Krypton and the Last Highlander of the Jedi Order. Emile seems to be immune to the laws of gravity, and coincidentally ends up owning a lot of climbing gear and clothes in bright orange. When not floating up campus boards, Emile might be found behind his camera taking photos of his teammates while impersonating an Attenborough narration.
Sponsor Emile
Although she's new to our team, Nicole is no muggle when it comes to climbing. She's already exceeding expectations during training, showing wizardry in endurance and speed, and Gryffindorian feats of courage and determination. Watching her climb is magical, almost like she's casting "wingardium leviosa" on herself while she climbs. Just don't ask her what her favourite series of books and movies are, it's a closely guarded secret.
Sponsor Nicole
A party without Omar and his unique sense of humour is going to be a dull party indeed. Scientists believe that Omar navigates the vertical space via echolocation since he can be routinely heard blasting a blood-curdling war cry while climbing. We think he is secretly trying to horde a collection of True North Climbing T-shirts in a complete rainbow of colours. Omar is still trying to figure out where they're taking the hobbits.
Sponsor Omar
Venus is part augmented cybernetic programmer who sees everything like the scrolling green code of the Matrix, sent back in time to save John Connor; and part bouldering gecko who seems to prefer to hang around upside-down by the back of her heels. However, she's no icy robot issuing one-liners in an Austrian accent. Her chipper attitude is always the heart of our team, ready to raise spirits and cheer us on.
Sponsor Venus