Awareness month takes the country by storm
October 20, 2015
In September, the community showed up in full force, breaking records on social media and rocking Parliament Hill.
It started with the unveiling of Ovarian Cancer Canada’s most shared social media graphic to date. “Teal is the new pink” was liked, commented on, and shared some 2,635 times on Facebook alone! All told, the post reached an estimated 79,987 people to promote Wear Teal Day.
Frances Vanover
Frances Vanover responded with this “September is for Ovarian. October is for Breast. I have had both. Teal IS the new Pink and we urgently need your support. This affects all the females in a family, and all ages not just seniors like me.”
In the second week of September, media ramped up for the Ovarian Cancer Canada Walk of Hope. Coverage to promote the event was secured in most cities. In the midst of their fundraising, participants across the country got in on the action by tagging photos of the special women who they were walking for with #WalkforHER. Then came the big event.
Participants at the Vancouver Walk
Despite inclement weather experienced in many cities on Walk day, the community powered on. In some cases, thunder and lightning couldn’t keep participants away. Some 10,500 supporters showed up and shined through the clouds and rain. In keeping with tradition, survivors and women living with ovarian cancer donned their teal tees, bringing hope to everyone walking while extending warm welcomes to newly diagnosed women who were attending the Walk for the first time.
This year’s Walk raised $2.1 million and counting as donations continue to trickle in. These funds will be put towards providing support, increasing awareness, and funding vital research.
Immediately afterwards, the “Stomp the pavement” campaign launched, inviting people to join Ovarian Cancer Canada in appealing to national leaders for their support of improved treatment and research funding.
Supporters on Facebook led the way, with posts like these:
Linda Harvey: Stomp stomp a billion times. Hello Ottawa anyone home listening? Ovarian cancer is knocking.
Joy Joyful: Temper tantrum stomping… I hate this cancer
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Joy's mother, Gisela.
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Over two weeks, the initiative gained traction. In fact, it exceeded the target number of supporters. This made way for a massive call to action that leveraged the popular hashtag #elxn42, which was being used to drive conversations along the campaign trail to Canada’s 42nd general election:
#ovariancancer claims the lives of 5 Canadian women each day. We demand action from our national leaders RT #elxn42
Bold awareness messages continued to circulate during the last weeks of September. One read “Think you’ve been tested for ovarian cancer? Think again.” With 421 social shares, the estimated reach of this post was 20,400.
After sharing it, Ruki from OC and Beyond wrote, “I was amazed at how many of my friends did not know this,” speaking to the ongoing lack of public awareness that the month of September is in place to counter.
In the last week, another shareable graphic reminded people that all women are at risk for ovarian cancer. The message was shared far and wide, well beyond September 30 when the Stomp campaign successfully delivered a storm of posts directed at national leaders. This collective action reached an estimated 152,175 people across the country.
Thank you to everyone who got involved in September’s initiatives to raise the profile and awareness of ovarian cancer. With your help, the case for support reached a broad network that included the country’s decision makers. Plans are in place to build on this forward momentum and ensure that all Canadians know more about ovarian cancer. Because once there is widespread public concern, government will heed our call for action.
Stay tuned. Plenty more is to come with formal government relations efforts in the fall, followed by launch of the national awareness campaign in the winter.