Most of you are familiar with the increasingly alarming statistics. In Canada, a woman's lifetime risk of developing breast cancer is now 1 in 9. In 1997 alone, an estimated 18,400 women will be diagnosed with the disease. But it is really the story behind the statistics which is important. It is the stories of our grandmothers, our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, our wives and our friends, whose lives have been devastated or lost to breast cancer which really matter.
Breast cancer chooses no favourites.
It is becoming clear that we are not going to find any single magic cure. Research is showing us that the causes of breast cancer are too diverse, and that one single approach to prevention and treatment is not going to be sufficient. It seems, therefore, that we have more questions than we have answers. Finding answers to these questions is a top priority. And that heightened awareness is helping to make good things happen.