Art show raising hope for cancer research

BY ELYSE AMEND

elyse.amend@transcontinental.ca

When Pointe Claire resident Terry Delaney’s son Morgan Hill was diagnosed with colon cancer shortly after turning 20 years old, he made an interesting request.

“He said, ‘mom, could you go to the bookstore and get me all the books on how to play poker,’” Delaney said. “He said ‘I’ve decided I’m going to be a professional poker player.”

And he wasn’t kidding: before passing away in February 2005 at 22 years old, he was able to make the $300 one of his brothers gave him turn into $3,000.

“We used that to start the Morgan’s Hope Foundation,” Delaney said, adding she is looking to raise $200,000 to support an adolescent colon cancer study at the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC). With only two to three cases of adolescent colon cancer estimated per year, worldwide, researching what causes the “on switch” to be flipped in the small group of young, healthy people could uncover new insight into all colorectal cancers, which usually hit adults later on in life.

A group of artists is hoping to give Morgan’s Hope Foundation a hand this weekend with an art show and sale at the Beaconsfield Yacht Club. Six independent artists will display a number of their works — which cover everything from traditional to modern art — both indoors and outdoors, with part of the proceeds going to the fund.

“Every dollar adds up. A loonie, a toonie, whatever. It really does add up,” said artist and show organizer Audrey Riley, adding they will be accepting donations as well. “We hope to raise awareness, too.”

Delaney said she, like many other people, never would have thought a 20-year-old could be diagnosed with something like colon cancer.

“It’s just so rare for a young adult to get colon cancer,” she said. Her two other sons had gall bladder infections, and that is initially what she thought Morgan was going through, too. “You just don’t think ‘colon cancer’ when they’re teenagers.”

Delaney will be at this weekend’s art show, and hopes the event will show off some great local artistic talent while raising money for and sensitizing people to a cause they may have never heard of before.

“I was so touched (the artists) were willing to reach out for Morgan’s Hope Fund,” Delaney said. “We’ve just been thrilled with the support the West Island has given us.”

The three-day art show benefiting the Morgan’s Hope Foundation will take place, rain or shine, at the Beaconsfield Yacht Club, 26 Lakeshore Rd. in Beaconsfield, on Friday from 5 to 10 p.m. (vernissage), and Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.