Yesterday,  I had the honour of co-emceeing the Ovarian Cancer Canada Walk of Hope at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Park in Edmonton — one of 45 walks that took place in communities right across the country that morning, all raising funds and awareness for a disease that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough.

The numbers are hard to sit with. Every year, 2,600 women in Canada are diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and of those, 1,760 won’t survive. There’s still no screening test to catch it early — but when it is caught early and treated, the survival rate jumps to 90 per cent. That gap, between what’s possible and what’s currently available, is exactly why events like this matter so much.

Standing on stage that morning, surrounded by hundreds of people who’d shown up — some in memory of someone they’d lost, some in celebration of their own survival — was genuinely moving. I spoke about a dear friend of mine who died from ovarian cancer eight years ago, and how it still enrages me that, in 2013, there is still no early detection test. Having watched someone I love go through that, I was there for her, and for everyone in that park who’s living with or has lost someone to this disease.

I shared the stage with Liza Sunley, an ovarian cancer survivor who put it so plainly: with only about 30 per cent of women diagnosed surviving past five years, it’s critical that women know the symptoms to watch for. Her honesty about her own journey, and her reminder of just how much this walk means to Ovarian Cancer Canada’s funding for the entire year, set the tone for the whole morning.

This was the ninth year the event has been held in Edmonton, and this year’s walk alone raised over $100,000. Since it began, the Walk of Hope has raised roughly $14.2 million nationally for Ovarian Cancer Canada — funding that goes directly toward research, awareness, and support for women and families affected by this disease.

Being asked to lend my voice to a morning like that, alongside women who’ve lived through so much, is something I don’t take lightly. Music and speech have always been the tools I know how to use to bring people together — and on a morning built around hope, loss, and community, that felt like exactly the right use of them.

If you want to learn more about ovarian cancer, its symptoms, or how to get involved, Ovarian Cancer Canada has a wealth of information on their website.

To everyone who walked that morning — thank you. You can read more about the event in Global News.

Sophie