Sharlene Wallace is the Community Engagement Lead Atlantic Canada for Ovarian Cancer Canada. This is an edited transcript.
Golda Arthur
Let me ask you about the nature of the disease. I've heard it referred to as the silent killer, and the most fatal gynecological cancer. Is that still true?
Sharlene Wallace
Yes, it is still true. The needle hasn't moved very much in 50 years. And the question is, well, why is that? You know, really, some of it has to do with survivorship. And because it's such a fatal disease, and once they're diagnosed, most women don't live past five years. And so the survivorship is really, really low. And when you look at breast cancer, and prostate cancer, and some of those other kinds of cancers, their survivorship is higher. And with ovarian cancer, survivorship is so low that the people aren't there to fight for it. And that's what Ovarian Cancer Canada is here for, we need to fight for this cause and we need to bring more awareness to it. The governments and donors of the world need to put more money into this so that we can move the needle. And when you look at prostate cancer and breast cancer, and you see the amount of funding they've had and the progress that they've made in finding new treatment options, compared to ovarian cancer, we're decades behind. And so if the government would put in the money that other cancers have received, we could catch up, we could do the same.
Golda Arthur
And so this must be a big challenge, right? I imagine one of the things you'll be up against is donor fatigue among individuals, or you could be up against the fact that governments, especially after the pandemic, will be telling you, funding agencies will be telling you, there are other priorities. So what arguments do you use to try and move this needle? Or how do you meet these challenges more broadly?
Sharlene Wallace
You know, it's just that we don't stop, it's that we keep putting pressure, the community is strong. You know, in 2019, there was a large group of supporters and patient advocates for ovarian cancer that basically stormed the gates of Ottawa and said, enough is enough, we are neglected, this is overlooked, and we are not going to stand for it anymore. And so our voice is strong, and relentless, we're not going to stop pushing, we're not going to stop advocating, and it's working, you know, we got that $10 million in 2019. And that was almost unheard of. And, and we have made such significant progress, that people are starting to notice now and say, hey, they really put their money where their mouth is, every dollar counts, and every dollar is going exactly where they say it's going. And that's a strong way to go in and talk to donors and government agencies to get that funding.
Golda Arthur
So tell me what happened in Ottawa?
Sharlene Wallace
Well, it started off with this campaign called Ladyballs. It's where this whole term came from. And it was aggressive. It was actually a little bit offensive to some people. Because, you know, what does it mean to you to have lady balls, and that's kind of like, a little bit outside of the box. But it caught people's attention. And it was a wave that took off and people got on board, and it got the attention of the government. And that's really where it started.
Golda Arthur
You said that there wasn't, hasn't been movement for the last 50 years or so. Do you see a change in the conversation around ovarian cancer now?
Sharlene Wallace
Yes, I do. So with that funding that I mentioned, that we got from the federal government in 2019, that brought around what we call the OvCan initiative. And OvCAN is this group of researchers and scientists that are collaborating across the country, and working together to find new treatments, and new discoveries with ovarian cancer. They're sharing information across the labs, from coast to coast to coast, which is what's moving the needle now. And, that's why we can't stop now. And what's happening across the country is that we have 23 funded projects on ovarian cancer research models. We have funded 13, high quality pre-clinical studies, we have funded six early phase clinical trials, with built in translation studies, including one focused on a rare type of ovarian cancer through open competitions. We've created ovarian cancer research consortiums, which consists of more than 250 members, so that’s 70 clinicians and representation from academic centers and eight provinces. So, like 250 plus researchers and scientists and clinicians all working together, how can we not make this needle move?