Tree of Hope campaign beats goal, raises $1.8M to fight cancer

With hundreds of volunteers and supporters on hand at the Community College of New Brunswick campus in Dieppe, a cheer went up as the annual Tree of Hope soared past its goal of $1.7 million.

At the end, the campaign raised a total of $1,804,116 for cancer research and treatment in New Brunswick.

The annual event features broadcasts from both CBC Radio and Radio-Canada running through the day.

Information Morning Moncton kicked off the 15th annual Tree of Hope radiothonearlyFriday morning, raising $214,162 during the three-hour broadcast.

It continuedFriday with Radio-Canada's l'Arbre de l'espoir radiothon which ranuntil 7 p.m.

Campaign co-chair Robert Maillet saidone of the most important things about the campaign is all of the money raised stays in the province.

"For me personally, the disease affected so many people in my family and friends so if I can do my part, especially here in Moncton and New Brunswick, I was happy to be involved," Maillet said.

Becca Schofield of Riverview shared her story on Friday with Information Morning Moncton host Jonna Brewer.

After surgery to remove a brain tumour and 30sessions of radiation, the 16-year-old is half-way through her chemotherapy treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer.

"There are days when it's really hard because the tumour was in the nausea and mobility centre so I can't walk and I'm often very, very nauseous so I carry around a bucket constantly," Becca said.

"I spent my 16th birthday in the hospital but I mean me and my Mom just think about the positive stuff and go day-by-day."

Support overwhelming

Her mother, Anne Schofield, says it's been difficult but she has also been amazed and overwhelmed by the amount of support Becca has received from family and friends.

"It's teaching us to focus on what's important and just let go of what we can't control. We just focus on what we can control ... we're not happy that she got cancer but she was having so many issues before she was diagnosed that she was happy to finally know what was wrong."

Becca says a video her best friend put together is one example of the support that is helping her get through her treatment. It features her classmates holding up signs of support to Rachel Platten's song, Stand By You.

I have days when I'm like, 'I can't go on like this, this is horrible,' just don't give up because there's more in you than you know.- Becca Schofield

"I just watch it when I'm feeling down and it makes me feel better just to know that all of those people care," she said.

Becca says she is doing everything she can to beat cancer and for her that has included naming her tumour 'Butterscotch.'

"My logic behind that is fear of the name increases fear of the thing itself so when you hear brain cancer you're like, 'Oh, that's scary,' and I didn't want to be afraid of my own body so I decided to name it the least important thing I could think of and butterscotch seemed pretty silly to me."

She has three chemotherapy sessions left in her treatment, and will continue to document her fight on her blog which is titledBecca Battles Butterscotch.

"Never give up because even if you don't think you can do it, I have days when I'm like, 'I can't go on like this, this is horrible,' just don't give up because there's more in you than you know. I never would have thought I'd be able to do this and look at me now."

All of the funds raised on Friday will benefit the Dr. Georges-L.Dumont University Hospital Foundation's annual campaign, including the hospital's oncology centre, the Mgr. Henri-Cormier Lodge. The campaign also supports the Atlantic Cancer Research Institute in Moncton.