Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound MPP Bill Walker put childhood cancer in the gold spotlight today at Queen's Park, garnering unanimous consent from all MPPs to wear the symbolic gold ribbon pins in support of children and families affected by this disease. Walker also delivered a statement in the Legislature earlier this afternoon to call on all members to work harder toward ending childhood cancer.
Below is his statement to the Legislature:
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. I, along with my colleagues here in the Legislature, am wearing the gold ribbon pin in support of every family and child affected by this life-threatening illness.
As the number one cause of disease-related death for children aged one to 14, we need to stand united to conquer childhood cancer. The fight against childhood cancer should never be fought alone. That is what the gold ribbon campaign is about.
I myself wear this gold ribbon today in honour of two people. First is Conah Higgins, the son of dear family friends. Conah was in the process of moving to Canada from the UK when he sadly passed away from cancer at the age of 17. The other is in memory of Brendan Rourke, a young man from my riding of Bruce–Grey–Owen Sound and to recognize tireless advocacy work of his father, Neal Rourke who, in collaboration with an international network of parent groups and survivor networks, is raising funds and awareness for young girls and boys whose childhoods have been regretfully cut short.
Three weeks ago, Neal, along with three young cancer survivors, rang the opening bell at the Toronto Stock Exchange to mark the beginning of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Neal, along with volunteers from the Childhood Cancer International and Big Book of Care campaigns are reminding us to do more so we can build a future free from cancer; that is, to build on the progress achieved at all levels of society and to make new drug research possible so we can ensure a brighter and healthier future for all of our children. That means government, industry, hospitals, research institutes and individual and corporate donors.
As such, I respectfully ask all of us to commit to working tirelessly to ensure we give our children and youth every opportunity to grow and thrive and live in a world that is free from cancer. It is my hope that we will soon, for the dream of my hero Terry Fox, find a cure for all cancers. Somewhere the hurting must stop.
