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Posts Tagged ‘early detection prostate cancer’

Mike’s Bikes Supports the Canary Challenge: Riding for Cancer Early Detection

March 19, 2013

We’re very excited to announce that Mike’s Bikes has joined the Canary Foundation family by becoming a Canary Challenge sponsor!

Mike’s Bikes was founded in 1964 as one of Marin County’s very first Schwinn shops. Today, Mike’s Bikes is a growing family of local bike shops, all with a singular purpose – to get as many people on bikes as possible. They own and operate eleven wildly successful stores in Petaluma, San Rafael, Sausalito, San Francisco, Berkeley, Palo Alto, Los Gatos, Sacramento, Walnut Creek, and their newest stores in San Jose and Pleasanton.

Mike’s Bikes will offer a 15% discount to all Canary Challenge riders on parts and accessories at any one of their 11 stores. Riders need to bring in their registration or confirmation form that shows they are a part of the ride. Visit their website to learn more about their products and locations.

Support Mike’s Bikes for supporting Canary, and get a great discount on your riding gear in the process!

Riding Together for Cancer Early Detection: Canary Challenge Celebrates Partnership with Vanderkitten Racing

February 22, 2013

Text “Canary” to 99000 for the scoop on the Canary Challenge!

Canary Challenge celebrated our new partnership with Vanderkitten Racing with a 75K ride along the Canary Challenge route in the lovely hills behind Palo Alto, CA. Ten cyclists from their team came together from all over the world to promote our September 28, 2013 ride to raise funds to benefit the Stanford Cancer Institute and Canary Center at Stanford for Cancer Early Detection. Since 2005, Vanderkitten has been committed to spreading awareness of women excelling, battling the odds and achieving. They are an organization dedicated to increasing the visibility of successful women and inspiring women by sharing those stories. Canary Challenge is excited and honored to partner with an organization that so highly values and promotes women’s athletics – especially since physical activity is one of the cornerstones of cancer prevention.

The ride lasted about three hours, looping through the scenic route through Portola Valley and up King’s Mountain Road to Woodside and back past Palo Alto. The riders were delighted to be accompanied by Edwin the Early Cancer Detection Early Bird, our very own mascot. If you haven’t ridden the Canary Challenge before, you’ll be astounded by the gorgeous scenery and incredible views. You’re in for a treat!

Following the ride was a healthy lunch and a presentation by our founder, Don Listwin, who articulated the Canary Foundation mission and vision for our new partners. The riders were fascinated by the statistics illustrating how most funding for cancer research goes tocuring cancer at its later stages, rather than investing in technologies that will help us catch it early. By the end of the presentation, the team was fully on board to support Canary’s vision to live in a world where cancer is detected in its earliest, most curable stages.

A tour of the facility proved equally exciting, where the riders had a chance to see the labs and research teams hard at work on the most cutting edge technology in cancer early detection.

We’re beyond thrilled to have Vanderkitten Racing on board for the Canary Challenge. We consider them a part of our team, and they consider us a part of theirs. Join us for the ride onSeptember 28 for a chance to meet the Vanderkitten Racing team and even ride along with them (as long as you can keep up, that is!). Text “Canary” to 99000 for more information, or just go and Register today.

Raising Funds for Cancer Early Detection: Canary Foundation Luncheon 2013

February 13, 2013

Last Friday, 200 supporters of the Canary Foundation joined at the Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club for the Annual Canary Luncheon. Together, we celebrated Canary’s successes in cancer early detection, discussed the latest technology in ovarian and breast cancer early detection research, and reviewed advances in microbubble technology.

All in all, we raised more than $187,000 to support early detection research and funds are still coming in! Special appreciation goes to an anonymous family foundation and Judy and Alan Zafran who provided lead gifts that inspired this giving. We thank them for their belief in our mission.

One of the highlights of the luncheon was watching Jesse Draper of The Valley Girl Show interview our Founder, Don Listwin, and Dr. Sanjiv “Sam” Gambhir, Chair of the Radiology Department at Stanford University and Director of the Canary Center at Stanford. Jesse brought a great energy to the conversation, asking questions about Canary Foundation research and progress, and helping to explain microbubble technology and its role in imaging for cancer early detection. Click here to watch Don Listwin give a breakdown of microbubble technology and how it will change the way we detect cancer in the future.

In addition to discussing technology and research, the interview also reinforced the most basic and fundamental message of the Canary Foundation: to detect cancer at its earliest, most curable stages. One of the highlights day was from Ronica Smucker, Executive Director of Canary Foundation, who stated: “If you come away from this luncheon with any number, it should be this: nine times out of ten, if cancer is detected early, the patient survives.” When asked for the best tip for the audience, Dr. Gambhir urged the audience to make it a priority to attend routine checkups with your doctor- the primary way cancer is detected early.

Thank you once again for all those who attended and helped us make this one of the most successful Canary Luncheons to date. We’ve created a photo gallery of the event on Facebook. We welcome you to check out the photos and tag yourself.

Ovarian Cancer Early Detection: Take Action!

February 12, 2013

At last Friday’s Canary Luncheon, ovarian cancer early detection was one of the major topics discussed. Dr. Sanjiv “Sam” Gambhir shared some of the symptoms of ovarian cancer, and reiterated that it should rank high on everyone’s priority list to meet with your physician regularly for checkups and regular cancer screening such as colonoscopy or mammography.

During the interview with Jesse Draper, Don Listwin, Founder of Canary Foundation, promised that he would make a more formal and comprehensive list of symptoms available on the Canary Foundation website and blog. Here they are!

Historically, it’s been believed that ovarian cancer symptoms were too vague to identify. But recent data [1] shows that sometimes it isn’t silent – there may be symptoms, but we have to watch out for them.
 Remember that nine times out of ten, if cancer is detected early, the patient survives. It’s critical to be in tune with your body and alert to any changes that might signal the presence of cancer.

Symptoms of ovarian cancer are not specific to the disease, and they often mimic those of many other more-common conditions, including digestive problems. However, when one of these symptoms is new, occurs almost daily and lasts longer than 2-3 weeks, it’s critical to see a physician and get checked out.

• Pelvic and/or abdominal pain
• Urinary symptoms (urgency or frequency)
• Nausea or diarrhea
• Bloating
• Trouble eating and/or feeling full quickly

1. Rossing MA, Wicklund KG, Cushing-Haugen KL, Weiss NS. Predictive Value of Symptoms for Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer. JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 2010;102(4):222–229.

Early Cancer Detection Success Leads to Canary Featured as Charity of The Week

December 5, 2012

Early cancer detection results of Canary Foundation led to the honor of being named Charity of the Week by The Week magazine. Canary Foundation early cancer detection research focuses on lung, prostate, pancreatic, breast and ovarian early detection methodologies. The Week magazine is a domestic and international magazine discussing the latest developments in business, health, science, technology, the arts, culture, consumer products and travel.

“Canary Foundation is the world’s first nonprofit dedicated entirely to the development of testes for early cancer detection. Founded in 2004 by Don Listwin, a successful technology executive who lost his mother to misdiagnosed ovarian cancer, Canary Foundation funds collaborative research by teams of cancer experts, with the aim of one day being able to identify early-stage cancer through a simple blood test.

The vast majority of cancer research funding goes to treatments of the disease in later stages; less than 15 percent currently goes to early-detection efforts, when cancer is at its most treatable. Canary Foundation is currently funding early-stage tests for lung, ovarian, pancreatic, prostate, and breast cancers.”

Thank you so much to The Week Magazine for featuring Canary Foundation as a charity to watch!