On May 20, 1976, 17-year-old Bryan Eddy held a sign saying, “I have leukemia. Without research I am on death row.” Bryan was an advocate for all those suffering from incurable diseases, leading a medical research demonstration march of more than 200 people from across Canada on Parliament Hill.

On August 12, 1976, Bryan passed away at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. To honour his life and passion for advocacy, his mother Edwina Eddy created a small charity in 1987 called Candlelighters to help advance childhood cancer research. Today, Candlelighters is known as Childhood Cancer Canada (CCC). 

Since 1987, CCC has been working to improve outcomes and better quality of life for children and adolescents with cancer. Our mission is to provide families with hope that someday no child will have to endure countless surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, and experience the long-term physical and emotional side effects of treatment.

Since 2004, the Foundation has been the primary charitable funding partner of the C17 Council, supporting clinical trials and childhood cancer research in Canada. The C17 Council is led by the hematology/oncology Division Directors from all of the Canadian centres that treat children with cancer, including Canada’s leading pediatric institutions, oncologists, and hematologists. The Foundation works with C17 Council with the goal of increased survival and well-being of our children, and ultimately a cure for all childhood cancers.

In August 2019 Childhood Cancer Canada and Coast to Coast Against Cancer Foundation announced their plans to create a new unified foundation, combining their efforts toward more positive outcomes for children, adolescents, and young adults fighting cancer in Canada. The Foundation completed the unification in September 2020, with a new logo to symbolize the two foundations coming together as one.

Today, CCC not only continues to fund childhood cancer research but also provides much-needed support to children and families. Our priority is to reach more childhood cancer families with increased financial support to strengthen their journey, set survivors up for academic success, and inspire hope for improved treatment and survival outcomes.

Childhood Cancer Canada is committed to helping create victories for children with cancer. We invest in critical life-saving research and empowering programs that support children with cancer, and their families, from coast to coast to coast.