A brief note from the Chair of the WMFC:
Each year the WMFC has only two fundraisers. One is for Research Month and the other is an end of year general appeal. May 2021 is this year’s Research Month. We are hoping to raise sufficient funds to support the ground-breaking research that the WMFC is investing in.
Thank you for contemplating making a gift to the WMFC. All donations will be acknowledged with a note and a tax receipt.
Check out the three tabs, below, for more information on how the WMFC is supporting research into WM, for Paul’s statement about his walk, and to track Paul’s progress.
And we have breaking news: CTV has run a story on Paul, Brukinsa’s approval, and Paul’s walk to raise research funds. See it here!
To show your support for Paul and his walk, mark your on-line donation as “In Honour of someone”, and fill in “Paul Kitchen” as the Honoree. He will get the message that you are cheering him on!
May 1st: More breaking news! In his note on his walk, Paul said “A number of WMers might choose to walk as well during the month of May.” One of our members in Winnipeg, Elsebeth Hansen-Kriening, has matched Paul’s pledge. She says:
“I am committing to walking 300km in 30 days in Manitoba, just like the Chair of the WMFC in New Brunswick. Help me show the rest of Canada what we all know: those who live in the heart of the country have the biggest hearts!”
It sounds like “the race is on” — but we all know the only winner is Research for WM.
Thank you Elsebeth, and thank you, Paul, and thank you to all of your respective supporters helping us to fund research for a cure for WM!
Those of you with Facebook and Instagram accounts can follow Elsebeth and her progress at #threehundredkilometresinthirtydays and #wmfcmayresearchfundraiser.
Over the last 20 years the WMFC has raised over $1.2M for research (see here for a summary of our research). Thank you and congratulations to all our supporters. Together we have made a significant difference and we want to continue our progress in unraveling the mysteries of WM. Just in the last month, a new drug has been approved by Health Canada for treating Canadian WMers.
The research projects the WMFC is currently supporting are:
- Dr. Carrasco’s development of a WM mouse. We started this project in 2012 and renewed Dr. Carrasco’s funding for the second stage in 2018.
”I recently had a project update by Ruben Carrasco which was very exciting. The WMFC played a great role in supporting development of this project.”
Steve Treon, March 24, 2021
- Dr. Chen’s research development of a blood test to confirm WM thereby avoiding painful bone marrow biopsies.
“To date, 39 patients have agreed to participate in this study, with most having completed their blood +/-bone marrow sample collection for deep sequencing of WM-related mutations. The NGS mutation panel has been developed and testing on banked samples is now in process. We thank patients for their keen interest in contributing samples, even during the restrictions of a COVID pandemic.”
Christine Chen, March 24, 2021
- Dr. Zach Hunter of the Bing Centre at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s research into multiomic analysis of DNA, RNA and epigenomic networks for prognostication and novel target identification of WM.
”The WMFC made possible our research into the cellular programing (epigenetics) of WM and is supporting our efforts to apply cutting edge machine learning (AI) methods to WM genomics”
Zach Hunter, March 22, 2021
The knowledge gained from these projects will help every Canadian WMer down the road. We need all Canadians affected by WM to help us out and are asking you to consider making a donation to support this research.
You can donate by clicking on the Donate button. We are counting on you.
Thank you for your help!!
Paul G. Kitchen
For the WMFC Board
In support of WMFC’s Research Month and to generate a greater awareness of WM in Canada, I am attempting to walk 10km each day during the month of May. (Roughly the distance from my home in Rothesay, NB to Moncton, mostly along the Trans-Canada Trail.) Our local newspaper in Saint John New Brunswick has picked up the story, and Global News did an interview which was broadcast nationally.
A number of WMers might choose to walk as well during the month of May to see if they are able to raise a few dollars for Research Month. Every $ makes a difference. My progress will be tracked daily on our website. Thank you for all the encouragement. So far, the response to the walk has been wonderful. I am hoping that this venture will contribute to a successful Research Month.
Stay safe.
Thanks,
Paul G. Kitchen
WMFC Board Member
Woo hoo!!! Paul has done it!! All 300 km.
Please give Paul a virtual “high five” or an e-hug — support research for a cure for WM.
(Note the arrows at the bottom of the above image — you can check out other aspects of Paul’s training, day by day.)
Many thanks to ESRI Canada for supplying this dashboard so we can track Paul’s progress!
Over the last 20 years the WMFC has raised over $1.2M for research (see here for a summary of our research). Thank you and congratulations to all our supporters. Together we have made a significant difference and we want to continue our progress in unraveling the mysteries of WM. Just in the last month, a new drug has been approved by Health Canada for treating Canadian WMers.
The research projects the WMFC is currently supporting are:
- Dr. Carrasco’s development of a WM mouse. We started this project in 2012 and renewed Dr. Carrasco’s funding for the second stage in 2018.
”I recently had a project update by Ruben Carrasco which was very exciting. The WMFC played a great role in supporting development of this project.”
Steve Treon, March 24, 2021
- Dr. Chen’s research development of a blood test to confirm WM thereby avoiding painful bone marrow biopsies.
“To date, 39 patients have agreed to participate in this study, with most having completed their blood +/-bone marrow sample collection for deep sequencing of WM-related mutations. The NGS mutation panel has been developed and testing on banked samples is now in process. We thank patients for their keen interest in contributing samples, even during the restrictions of a COVID pandemic.”
Christine Chen, March 24, 2021
- Dr. Zach Hunter of the Bing Centre at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s research into multiomic analysis of DNA, RNA and epigenomic networks for prognostication and novel target identification of WM.
”The WMFC made possible our research into the cellular programing (epigenetics) of WM and is supporting our efforts to apply cutting edge machine learning (AI) methods to WM genomics”
Zach Hunter, March 22, 2021
The knowledge gained from these projects will help every Canadian WMer down the road. We need all Canadians affected by WM to help us out and are asking you to consider making a donation to support this research.
You can donate by clicking on the Donate button. We are counting on you.
Thank you for your help!!
Paul G. Kitchen
For the WMFC Board
In support of WMFC’s Research Month and to generate a greater awareness of WM in Canada, I am attempting to walk 10km each day during the month of May. (Roughly the distance from my home in Rothesay, NB to Moncton, mostly along the Trans-Canada Trail.) Our local newspaper in Saint John New Brunswick has picked up the story, and Global News did an interview which was broadcast nationally.
A number of WMers might choose to walk as well during the month of May to see if they are able to raise a few dollars for Research Month. Every $ makes a difference. My progress will be tracked daily on our website. Thank you for all the encouragement. So far, the response to the walk has been wonderful. I am hoping that this venture will contribute to a successful Research Month.
Stay safe.
Thanks,
Paul G. Kitchen
WMFC Board Member
Woo hoo!!! Paul has done it!! All 300 km.
Please give Paul a virtual “high five” or an e-hug — support research for a cure for WM.
(Use those tabs at the bottom of the above image to track other aspects of Paul’s training.)
Many thanks to ESRI Canada for supplying this dashboard so we can track Paul’s progress!
Over the last 20 years the WMFC has raised over $1.2M for research (see here for a summary of our research). Thank you and congratulations to all our supporters. Together we have made a significant difference and we want to continue our progress in unraveling the mysteries of WM. Just in the last month, a new drug has been approved by Health Canada for treating Canadian WMers.
The research projects the WMFC is currently supporting are:
- Dr. Carrasco’s development of a WM mouse. We started this project in 2012 and renewed Dr. Carrasco’s funding for the second stage in 2018.
”I recently had a project update by Ruben Carrasco which was very exciting. The WMFC played a great role in supporting development of this project.”
Steve Treon, March 24, 2021
- Dr. Chen’s research development of a blood test to confirm WM thereby avoiding painful bone marrow biopsies.
“To date, 39 patients have agreed to participate in this study, with most having completed their blood +/-bone marrow sample collection for deep sequencing of WM-related mutations. The NGS mutation panel has been developed and testing on banked samples is now in process. We thank patients for their keen interest in contributing samples, even during the restrictions of a COVID pandemic.”
Christine Chen, March 24, 2021
- Dr. Zach Hunter of the Bing Centre at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s research into multiomic analysis of DNA, RNA and epigenomic networks for prognostication and novel target identification of WM.
”The WMFC made possible our research into the cellular programing (epigenetics) of WM and is supporting our efforts to apply cutting edge machine learning (AI) methods to WM genomics”
Zach Hunter, March 22, 2021
The knowledge gained from these projects will help every Canadian WMer down the road. We need all Canadians affected by WM to help us out and are asking you to consider making a donation to support this research.
You can donate by clicking on the Donate button. We are counting on you.
Thank you for your help!!
Paul G. Kitchen
For the WMFC Board
In support of WMFC’s Research Month and to generate a greater awareness of WM in Canada, I am attempting to walk 10km each day during the month of May. (Roughly the distance from my home in Rothesay, NB to Moncton, mostly along the Trans-Canada Trail.) Our local newspaper in Saint John New Brunswick has picked up the story, and Global News did an interview which was broadcast nationally.
A number of WMers might choose to walk as well during the month of May to see if they are able to raise a few dollars for Research Month. Every $ makes a difference. My progress will be tracked daily on our website. Thank you for all the encouragement. So far, the response to the walk has been wonderful. I am hoping that this venture will contribute to a successful Research Month.
Stay safe.
Thanks,
Paul G. Kitchen
WMFC Board Member
Woo hoo!!! Paul has done it!! All 300 km.
Please give Paul a virtual “high five” or an e-hug — support research for a cure for WM.
Many thanks to ESRI Canada for supplying this dashboard so we can track Paul’s progress!