Cause & VIPs
Your ticket powers progress
Every ticket supports Albertans facing cancer.
Who's your ticket for?
When you buy a ticket, you support Albertans facing cancer — a disease that deeply affects us all.
For over 20 years, your ticket has powered Alberta’s cancer care and research community, putting dollars to work faster and where they matter most. As the fundraising partner for every cancer centre in the province, no other organization supports Albertans facing cancer as completely as we do.
Together, we’ve helped Alberta move from having one of the lowest cancer survival rates to one of the highest in Canada. This incredible progress has been built over decades — and it simply wouldn’t happen without the generosity of loyal supporters like you.
By supporting the Alberta Cancer Foundation Lottery, 50/50, and Win Daily Cash, you are funding vital innovation in cancer detection, treatment, and care close to home. Let’s keep the momentum going and power progress together, ensuring that every Albertan facing cancer can focus on what matters most: healing.
By The Numbers
1 in 2
Albertans will receive a cancer diagnosis
in their lifetime.
24,000
new cancer cases
expected in Alberta
in 2026.
60
Albertans hear
the words, "You have
cancer" every day.
Creating More Moments
VIP Stories
David Spence
Diagnosed with prostate cancer
“I do not call myself a cancer survivor. I prefer the term “person living well after cancer”.
I was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2012. My family doctor did regular digital exams, and didn’t find anything. He did include PSA testing in my routine blood work, and he noticed my PSA levels rising. I was sent for a biopsy, and cancer was confirmed. At the time, there was a movement to stop PSA testing due to false positives. PSA testing saved my life, and I will never agree with the argument that it should be discontinued. I had my biopsy on October 31, 2012, and was told if they find anything, they’d call me. I did not receive a call through the entire month of November, so I assumed…no news is good news, and that everything was ok.
So, it came as a huge shock when the phone call came on December 5, with the doctor telling me I had cancer. Long story short, I was treated with brachytherapy on February 26, 2013. The procedure was successful, though there were side effects involving bleeding and radiation-related burning for about two years afterward. Fortunately, the cancer has not returned. I do not call myself a cancer survivor. I prefer the term “person living well after cancer”.
For David Spence, cancer has touched every part of life. Every member of his family of four faced the disease and endured treatment. “We survived”, David says, “we were the lucky ones.” But over the years, cancer also claimed friends, co-workers, and loved ones whose memories stay with him every day.
Through his own journey, David found hope in the people working tirelessly to change the future of cancer care. As a volunteer patient advisor and mentor to young cancer researchers, he has witnessed firsthand the compassion and determination driving life-saving discoveries here in Alberta.
“My cancer was treated successfully because of the work of researchers in the past,” David says. “Today’s researchers are working for the patients of today, and for those of the future.” For David, the students and scientists dedicating their lives to cancer research are the real heroes — working long days and nights in the hope that their discoveries may one day save someone’s life.
When you purchase a ticket for the Alberta Cancer Foundation Lottery, you power progress for patients and families across Alberta. Your ticket powers progress and enables the groundbreaking research, compassionate care, and new discoveries that has helped move Alberta from one of the lowest cancer survival rates to one of the highest in Canada. Let’s keep the momentum going and power progress — together.
Amanda Garcia & Mother-in-law
Diagnosed with lymphoma
Amanda Garcia’s connection to cancer care began 25 years ago, when her mom was diagnosed with lymphoma, a blood cancer, and underwent a radical neck surgery and aggressive radiation treatment. The experience shaped Garcia’s career path. She was in nursing school at the time, and after seeing the support her mom received during her treatment, set her sights on working in the operating room alongside surgeons removing cancer.
“The operating room was something I really wanted to be part of,” she says. “I wanted to be able to help people. I wanted to see what this nasty, nasty disease looks like in every capacity. And I wanted to meet the surgeon who saved my mom.”
Twelve years later, Garcia worked as a scrub nurse alongside her mother’s surgeon. She remembers thanking him for saving her mom and expressing her hope that she could continue to help him treat and support others living with cancer.
Garcia stepped away from frontline nursing three years ago and now works as a case manager for an insurance company, where she helps people undergoing cancer treatment navigate insurance, benefits and other support. She is also caring for her mother-in-law, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last October and had surgery in January.
For Garcia, all these experiences reinforce how powerful practical support can be. She remembers how financial assistance through the Patient Financial Assistance Program helped her mom manage travel and accommodation costs during treatment. Now, while balancing full-time work and raising two kids, Garcia is grateful for the support her and her mom receive. For example, a volunteer driving program brings her mother-in-law to and from radiation appointments when Garcia is not available to help.
Another form of support stands out to Garcia, shaped by her years in the operating room: the steady advancement of technology and equipment that has transformed cancer care.
“I’ve watched the progression, from how aggressive the treatments were… to watching the technology evolve and change through research,” she says. Donor-supported advancements expand treatment options, improve prognoses, influence post-treatment care and ultimately enhance quality of life for Albertans living with cancer.
Seeing the power of support during her mom’s and many others’ cancer journeys motivates Garcia. She is a long-time supporter of the Alberta Cancer Foundation Lottery — and a back-to-back Win Daily Cash lottery winner. This is her way of contributing to cancer research that continues to shape the future of cancer care.