National Bank donates $415,000 to Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation
Early detection key to survival, says Laval woman who had disease twice
Published July 15 , 2009
By Martin C. Barry • TLN

“As a breast cancer survivor, I faced many challenges during the course of my illness,” says Caroline Perron, a breast cancer survivor from Laval. “I am proud of the fact that a business like National Bank Financial Group is making a major donation for the well-being of all Quebec women.”
Support for women
For the fourth year in a row, National Bank Financial Group became a partner in hope with the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation by making a major donation of $415,000 to the cause. National Bank Allure MasterCard holders have donated $1.5 million to the Foundation since 2006 through their transactions. The purpose of the donations is support women who find themselves diagnosed with breast cancer.
In an interview, Perron recalled how she was diagnosed with breast cancer twice, in 2005 and 2007 respectively. “The first time I was single, and going through that alone is a heavy burden,” she says. Having become sick when she was in her early 30s, she found she also had some difficulty dealing with it at such a young age. On the other other hand, she added, there was also a positive side.
Living with the disease
“You get to better know yourself, to get to enjoy life and everything in it becomes more beautiful,” she says. “The more difficult aspect is actually living with the disease and getting through the treatments. I have a medication I have to continue taking. For another three years that puts me in menopause at a younger age.
“These are things that are not always easy to accept,” she adds. “I also lost a breast. And also, because of the type of cancer I had, they had to remove my ovaries, so I had to accept never being able to have children. It’s a lot of grief to have to deal with at one time.”
Learned her limits
But while Perron’s medical treatments are for the most part over and life is now much more in order, she’s learned to take life more easily and pay attention to her limitations. “Before I was always accepting to do almost anything people would ask me for. Now I’ve learned to say no and that’s changed a lot of things for me.”
Perron, who discovered the presence of the suspicious growth in her breast through self-examination, is now using that experience to teach other women how to do the same as a early-detection measure against breast cancer. “The proof of its effectiveness is that I’m still here,” she says.
New awareness group
National Bank Financial Group’s donation program helps by contributing to research, promoting breast health through education and awareness, and offering support to women living with breast cancer, as well as to their loved ones. “In 2007, this substantial support allowed us to introduce a new breast health awareness program, the Allure Rendez-Vous, in close cooperation with the financial group,” says Suzanne LeBreux, executive director of the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation.
The Allure Rendez-Vous are special meetings that promote breast health and feature motivated, inspiring speakers. These breast cancer prevention activities are made possible through a percentage of the annual purchases made by all Allure card holders, which are given to the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation by National Bank Financial Group.
Harmonie program
By the end of the year, more than 1,000 women from across Quebec will have had the opportunity to meet health professionals and breast cancer survivors in order to understand the full power they have over their own well-being and their lives.
The Allure Rendez-Vous meetings are the very heart of the Foundation’s breast health awareness program, called Harmonie. The goal of the program is to provide women with concrete information on good breast health and lifestyle habits to adopt, with an eye to prevention. “These meetings give us great opportunities to reach women from all across Quebec,” Lebreux says.