NEWS RELEASE: Mining Community Raises $1.5 Million for BC Children’s Hospital

http://www.miningformiracles.ca/

VANCOUVER, BC–(Marketwired – June 06, 2017) – Mining for Miracles, BC’s mining community’s longstanding fundraising campaign for BC Children’s Hospital, presented a cheque for $1,552,505 at the 30th BC Children’s Hospital Miracle Weekend on June 4, 2017.

In 2017, representatives from across the industry participated in fundraising initiatives and events such as Jeans Day™, the Diamond Draw, Slo-Pitch, 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,” said Joanne Klein, co-chair, Mining for Miracles and Vice President, People at Goldcorp.

“For the past thirty years, volunteers from the across the mining industry have raised more than $27 million for the BC Children’s Hospital,” said Jeff Hanman, co-chair, Mining for Miracles and Vice President, Corporate Affairs at Teck. “We were proud to raise $1.5 million in 2017 to support the development of the new TRACE Program.”

Funds raised by Mining for Miracles in 2017 and 2018 will support the development of the TRACE program at BC Children’s Hospital. TRACE will work towards providing 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 of $2.9 million, 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. 100% of funds raised at Pie Throw will go to developing TRACE.

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.

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 pediatric care excellence. Visit www.miningformiracles.ca for more information and to donate.

Mining for Miracles would like to thank representatives from Teck, Goldcorp, Eldorado Gold, Atlantic Gold, Capstone, Fednav, Hemmera, Hatch, Golder, Fluor, Tetra Tech, CWA Engineers, Finning, SMS Equipment, Ausenco, Amec Foster Wheeler, Cassels Brock, Blakes, the Mining Suppliers Association of BC, Arrow Transport, Copper Mountain Mining Corporation, Ernst & Young LLP, Fountain Tire, Imperial Metals, Ironclad, Ledcor, Legar Holdings Ltd., Moly-Cop, Rimex, Taseko Mines, The Gisborne Group, C3 Alliance Corp., MLT Lawyers, Association of Mineral Exploration, Mining Association of BC, Alianza Minerals Ltd., Western Copper and Gold Corp., Klohn Crippen Berger, Carlson Construction Group and Canadian Mineral Processors who participated in fundraising initiatives and events such as Jeans Day™, the Diamond Draw, Slo-Pitch, the Hooked on Miracles Fishing Tournament, and the Teck Celebrity Pie Throw.

About BC Children’s Hospital Foundation

BC Children’s Hospital is the province’s only full-service acute-care pediatric hospital. Last year, BC Children’s Hospital treated more than 84,000 children. The money raised by the foundation supports BC Children’s Hospital, its research institute, and Sunny Hill Health Centre for Children. For more information, visit www.bcchf.ca.

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.

CONTACT INFORMATION

For more information please contact:
Jeff Hanman
Mining for Miracles Co-Chair
604-354-5230

Joanne Klein
Mining for Miracles Co-Chair
604-696-3047

Pamela Smith
BC Children’s Hospital Foundation
Communications Specialist
604-875-2345 x 5547
psmith@bcchf.ca