Mr. Speaker, this weekend was Run for the Cure for breast cancer. Every year, over 26,000 Canadian women are diagnosed with breast cancer. One in 31 women in our country will die from it, 5,000 of them this year alone.
My mother Lynne was one of those women. She was a strong, passionate and generous mother. She had three children, and if she was alive today she would meet her five amazing grandchildren: Harper Lynne and Cashton Leitch, and Maelle, Collins and Jeremy Heath, who are here with us in the gallery today. To honour my mother's life and legacy, our family has organized an annual charity event, and the proceeds go to breast cancer research.
The 18th annual event was held last week. It raised over $17,000 to bring us to over $250,000.
Anyone who has a family member battling breast cancer should know that with continued research and support, we will beat this terrible disease so that every grandmother can meet her grandchild.