BMO Ride for Cancer smashes records with $2.56 million raised so far in 2024

This morning over 1,000 Maritimers conquered between 25 and 160 kilometres on their bikes in the 10th anniversary of Atlantic Canada’s largest cycling fundraiser.

The BMO Ride for Cancer has raised $2.56 million so far this year, bringing the decade total to $12.9 million. This is the most that has been raised in a single year.

Funds are raised for the QEII Cancer Centre. In previous years funds have supported obtaining Atlantic Canada’s first surgical robotics technology for cancer surgeries and the works first Ethos with HyperSight for radiation treatment, an advanced imaging technology.

This year’s record-breaking funds will be used to fund liquid biopsy technology which will allow experts to use a patient’s genetics to uncover whether they are cancer-free, using a simple blood test. This is one of the earliest signs of whether cancer has returned and, if so, how to beat it.

The initiative will mark one of the first times in Canada that liquid biopsies are integrated into patients’ care journeys on a large scale. The hope is to change the narrative of cancer in the eastern provinces. Currently Nova Scotia has the highest cancer rates in all of Canada. One in three patients do not survive.

“It’s an incredibly special day as we celebrate 10 years of BMO Ride for Cancer and a decade of transformational impact for Atlantic Canadian cancer patient and their families. Today, many of our participants are riding for those they love, those they’re honouring and those they’ve lost. While record-breaking fundraising totals are exciting, the real magic is in the lives that will be changed and saved by our BMO Ride for Cancer participants, donors, partners and volunteers,” Susan Mullin, president and CEO of the QEII Foundation, said in a press release.

The QEII Foundation is extending extra thanks to the Ramia family for its $650,000 total in donations this year, contributing largely to the new technology.