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Mining community raises $2.1 million

Mining for Miracles raises $2,167,054 for BC Children’s Hospital

 

Mining for Miracles, the BC mining community’s long-standing fundraising campaign for BC Children’s Hospital, presented a cheque for $2,167,054 at the 31st BC Children’s Hospital Miracle Weekend on June 3, 2018.

In 2018, representatives from across the industry participated in fundraising initiatives and events such as Jeans Day™, the Diamond Draw, the Mining for Miracles Online Auction, the Hooked on Miracles Fishing Tournament, and the Teck Celebrity Pie Throw.

Every year volunteers from the mining community work together through Mining for Miracles to help improve the quality of health care for children in British Columbia. Through its support of the construction of facilities and acquisition of specialized medical equipment at the hospital, Mining for Miracles is helping to keep BC Children’s Hospital at the forefront of pediatric care excellence.

“Supporting BC Children’s Hospital is part of the BC mining industry’s long history of working to strengthen communities across the province.”
– Tina Wang, co-chair, Mining for Miracles and Assistant Treasurer at Goldcorp

“For the past thirty years, volunteers from the across the mining industry have raised more than $30 million for BC Children’s Hospital,” said Jeff Hanman, co-chair, Mining for Miracles and Vice President, Corporate Affairs at Teck. “We were proud to raise $2.1 million in 2018 to support the development of the new TRACE Program.”

Following this donation, Mining for Miracles has completed a two-year $2.9 million commitment to fund the TRACE program at BC Children’s Hospital in 2017 and 2018. TRACE will provide children across British Columbia with personalized medicine using the patient’s own cells to prevent rejection of organ transplants, kill cancer cells, and fight infection.

Mining for Miracles funding will establish two state-of-the-art facilities for the TRACE program, giving children in British Columbia access to the best and most current cell therapies, and enabling BC Children’s Hospital and its Research Institute to develop new and better cell therapy and transplantation technologies.

The partnership of BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and Mining for Miracles is a leading example of how industry, institutions and social-profit organizations can work together to provide world-class health care to children and families across BC.

Visit www.miningformiracles.ca for more information.

About Mining for Miracles

Every year volunteers from the mining community work together through Mining for Miracles to help improve the quality of health care for children in our province. Through its support of the construction of facilities and acquisition of specialized medical equipment at the hospital, Mining for Miracles is helping to keep BC Children’s Hospital at the forefront of excellence in pediatric care. Visit www.miningformiracles.ca for more information and to donate.

About BC Children’s Hospital

BC Children’s Hospital is the only hospital in the province devoted exclusively to the care of children. As one of the few pediatric medical centres in North America with a world-class acute care centre, research institute, mental health facility and soon, rehabilitation centre, all on a single campus, we provide expert care for the sickest and most seriously injured kids. At BC Children’s Hospital Foundation, we have a vision that every child is healthy and able to fulfill their hopes and dreams. The generosity of donors fuels our ability to conquer childhood diseases, prevent illness and injury, and prioritize the unique needs of kids in every aspect of their care.

Backgrounder:

Through Mining for Miracles support, TRACE will establish two state of the art facilities, a Translational Biomarker Facility and a Clinical Cell Therapy Facility.

Translational Biomarker Facility

A first of its kind in Canada, the facility will be dedicated to innovative monitoring of patients undergoing organ transplantation or cell therapy.
The facility will allow physicians to better predict when a child is at risk of developing infection, late complications or transplant rejection.
Earlier identification allows clinicians to provide treatment to minimize risk, improve health and save children’s lives.

As an example, a child who has received a kidney transplant currently needs multiple biopsies to screen for early signs of rejection. This is an invasive process that requires deep sedation and a hospital stay. With the establishment of the Translational Biomarker Facility, it is anticipated that in the near future, a simple urine test will become a first line of surveillance to understand if the transplanted organ is at risk of being rejected.

Clinical Cell Therapy Facility

  • Cell therapies offer exciting approaches that, for example, utilize the patient’s own immune cells to kill cancer cells and stop viral infections.
  • Currently, children in British Columbia can only access this treatment in the US at a cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
  • Will provide a new treatment for children with relapsed leukemia that has been effective in over 90% of cases in clinical trials.

The infrastructure enabled by the TRACE Program, will give children and families access to the best and most current therapies available. It will also enable BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute to become a leader in cell therapies and transplantation for children in BC.

For more information please contact:

Jeff Hanman
Mining for Miracles Co-Chair
604-354-5230

Tina Wang
Mining for Miracles Co-Chair
604-696-3020

Meghan McQuaid
BC Children’s Hospital Foundation
Philanthropy Officer
604-875-2504