A Quebec-based non-profit organization dedicated to breast cancer awareness and treatment is celebrating its 20th anniversary. In 2006, Denise Vourtzoumis’s 11-year-old son, Lawrence, shaved his head in support of women facing breast cancer. That simple gesture inspired a movement that continues to change lives 20 years later.
The MUHC Foundation has been proud to partner with Denise and Pink in the City since 2014. Over the past twelve years, they have contributed $1,949 million through the Foundation to support the MUHC Breast Clinic Wellness Program, helping ensure patients receive the care and support they need, treating the whole person and not just the cancer.
Pink in the City has raised over $3.5 million to fund purchasing medical equipment, research and support programs for people diagnosed with breast cancer.
Rajdaye “Susan” Maharaj and her husband Pavel Zezulka share a moment outside the offices of the MUHC Foundation (Fariha Naqvi-Mohamed, CityNews)
Rajdaye “Susan” Maharaj, survived breast cancer, along with her husband Pavel Zezulka. They were both diagnosed one week apart with tumours of the same size, on the same side.
Maharaj and Zezulka used services provided by the Breast Clinic Wellness Program funded in part by Pink in the City.
“There is a wonderful team of doctors, specialists, people who know all the answers,” Zezulka said. “They can help you from A-Z, go through everything. From Recovering from exercising to go through all your rest of your life.”
“What is incredible about Pink in the City is that they have mobilized an entire community,” said Marie-Hélène Laramée, president of McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). “We’re talking about restaurants and vendors and people coming together in the city and showing these women who are being diagnosed that we are behind them.”
An 11-year-old Lawrence Vourtzoumis preparing to shave his head to raise funds for breast cancer. (Submitted by Denise Vourtzoumis)
According to Laramée, every day 26 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in Quebec.
“Getting diagnosed with breast cancer is really a whole body experience and the care should be holistic as well,” Laramée said. “So the hospital is providing really excellent physical care to those patients. But imagine having to travel to different appointments, different locations to really get the holistic care that you need.”
At the Breast Clinic Wellness Program, patients can access services such as psychological support, nutritional counselling, physical rehabilitation, and sexual health counselling to help them regain strength, confidence, and quality of life in one spot.
The Vourtzoumis brothers (Submitted by Denise Vourtzoumis)
“There’s this love within the community to support causes that you know have impacted their families, people they know and so it’s very very important,” Denise Vourtzoumis, president of Pink in the City.
“Through Pink in the City, with different campaigns or programs that we have in the schools, it’s coming together. And it’s coming together from the very young to the very old.”
The 20th Anniversary Magic of Hope Gala by Pink in the City takes place this Friday in Laval.
Pavel Zezulka and his wife Rajdaye “Susan” Maharaj share a moment outside the offices of the MUHC Foundation (Fariha Naqvi-Mohamed, CityNews)
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