Ovarian Cancer

Hon. Terry M. Mercer:

Honourable senators, on September 11 of this year, I had the pleasure of joining hundreds of my fellow Nova Scotians on the Halifax waterfront to walk in honour of, and to raise money for, the fight against ovarian cancer.

My wife is a 20-year survivor of ovarian cancer. The women in here will understand that that is a very unusual number, a 20-year survivor of ovarian cancer. We are very lucky. However, there are so many other women across this country who aren’t as lucky as my wife, Ellen, and it’s through the efforts of the Ovarian Cancer Society that money is being raised specifically to help to find a cure for ovarian cancer.

It’s the silent killer of women because it’s so hard to identify that you have symptoms of it because some of the symptoms of ovarian cancer are symptoms that women have quite often anyway, and so it doesn’t seem unusual until, many times, it’s too late.

I encourage you to support the fight against ovarian cancer. I would like to thank many of you in this room and many people around this Hill who were kind enough to sponsor me in my walk on September 11, and I encourage you, at perhaps next year’s walk, to walk yourself or sponsor someone else. Indeed, I will probably give you the opportunity of sponsoring me again, and I’d welcome that opportunity.

But remember this: The fight against ovarian cancer is for your mother or your wife, your sister, your daughter and any other women you know in your life. It is a fight that is worth fighting. It is a fight that is worth supporting, and I’d encourage you to participate or, if you can’t participate, to donate.