Making sure no one has to face cancer alone

From Brenda Stamm’s perspective, every person has a higher calling.

“The way I look at it, you have a purpose in life. You have to give back and that’s what I try to do,” she says.

Stamm, 68, has been volunteering with the Canadian Cancer Society and other cancer-related charities for more than 20 years.

She is familiar face at fundraising events, community campaigns and the breast cancer fundraiser, CIBC Run for the Cure. She helps organize fundraising efforts, collects donations and recruits as well as “coaches” volunteers on how best to raise funds.

Her efforts are rooted in pragmatism; Stamm understands how donor dollars function on a practical level.

“Money does tons; it can be directed towards the Wheels of Hope program which pairs drivers with patients who lack transportation to medical appointment. It can help pay for temporary accommodation (for people who) are receiving treatment away from home,” she explains.

“There’s a lot of different supports money goes to besides research… but research is what’s going to save lives, change treatments, make it easier to live with cancer.”

Some of the work has brought her into contact with the raw reality of a cancer diagnosis. One particular occasion from earlier on in her voluntary work has remained with her.

“I was counting donation funds and in came this family — husband, two teenage kids and a little one. His wife had just been diagnosed that day. It was Friday and the run was Sunday, and he registered and put down $500… You get stuff like that, there’s always somebody who comes up, they’ve just been diagnosed and they’re still emotional about it,” she shares.

The disease has affected Stamm’s family, too. In 1998, her mother Loretta received a diagnosis of Stage 4 breast cancer. Stamm stepped into the role of caregiver by driving her mother to the hospital for check-ups and chemotherapy treatments.

“I would phone her when I was leaving the house to get her and she would have the energy to get her coat and boots on, then sit on the landing. I’d help her get in the vehicle and drive to the hospital where my sister was usually waiting with a wheelchair. It was tough to see her so exhausted,” she says.

She recalls the exact moment she felt moved to be of service. She was at her company’s annual fundraiser, the Canadian Cancer Society Gala, in the late 1990s, and the organizers conducted a simple exercise to illustrate to show the scale of the disease.

“First, those who had breast cancer were asked to stand. Then those whose immediate family members — mothers, sisters, cousins, aunties — were affected by the disease and more people rose. Then it was friends… there were 300 people in the room and by the end of the exercise only 10 people remained seated,” Stamm says.

“It was one of the most impactful nights of my life; it really drove home how common breast cancer is. It was a huge eye-opener.”

At around the same time she attended a dinner and found herself sitting next to breast cancer advocate Annie Parker; the encounter left a lasting impression on Stamm.

Parker, a three-time cancer survivor herself, had lost her mother and sister to breast cancer when she was very young. Parker’s belief there was a genetic link in certain cancers was largely ignored by the medical profession at the time. In 1994, she became one of the first Canadian women to undergo tests for the deadly BRCA1 gene mutation, which transformed the understanding of hereditary breast cancer.

“To sit with somebody who had devoted herself and her body to helping science was amazing. It was life-changing,” Stamm says. “It showed me what research can accomplish.”

Born in Riverton, Stamm moved to Winnipeg as a 17-year-old to attend college. Her first job was as a legal secretary and she spent her early adulthood ensuring women fleeing domestic violence secured protection. Later on, she moved into commercial sales, a field she remained in for 24 years, eventually training staff across the province.

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“When working as a legal secretary, I did restraining orders; I helped women be safe. In my sales career, I taught women how to earn money, be it for groceries or increased self-esteem so they could actually leave an abusive relationship.”

Stamm continues to fulfil her purpose in life with her steady commitment to voluntary work; motivating, equipping and supporting those navigating illness, ensuring they don’t have to face their hardest moments alone.

The CIBC Run for the Cure takes place on Oct. 4 at the Assiniboine Park.

Visit the event’s website for more information and to register.

If you know a special volunteer, please contact AV.Kitching@freepress.mb.ca

AV Kitching
Reporter

AV Kitching is an arts and life writer at the Free Press. She has been a journalist for more than two decades and has worked across three continents writing about people, travel, food, and fashion. Read more about AV.

Every piece of reporting AV produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.