TORONTO, Sept. 18, 2019 /CNW/ - Scotiabank has donated $500,000 to the Terry Fox Foundation PROFYLE program, to help give young Canadians with hard-to-treat cancers access to potentially life-saving treatment.

The Terry Fox PROFYLE – short for PRecision Oncology For Young peopLE – is a unique program that uses precision medicine to treat qualifying babies, children and young adults across Canada. Through this project, patients who are out of treatment options have their tumours and genomes profiled and analyzed, and are connected to a network of top cancer researchers. This helps to identify drugs that might work for these patients based on the molecular profile of their tumours.

"Young people are our future leaders and Scotiabank's goal is to help ensure that they have the necessary resources they need to support their success," says Karen Soos, Director of Philanthropy at Scotiabank.  "We are investing in Terry Fox PROFYLE to help young people thrive and reach their infinite potential through improved access to the best healthcare. This program gives another chance to young people who have been told there are no more treatment options."

Scotiabank and its employees are focused on enriching the lives of young people in the community. Through this donation, Scotiabank hopes to give more young people resources to help them grow into healthy, contributing adults. The Terry Fox PROFYLE program began in 2017 and today more than 300 children enrolled. 

"We are so grateful for the support and commitment of Scotiabank in helping us to find new treatments and more answers for the 20% of children, adolescents, and young adults with hard-to-treat cancers," says Heather Scott, Director of Development at The Terry Fox Foundation. "Terry Fox PROFYLE is an unprecedented Pan-Canadian precision medicine project that is showing promising results towards this goal. This initiative is possible thanks to the generosity of our donors like Scotiabank."

Scotiabank has had a long relationship with the Terry Fox Foundation, dating back to Terry's Marathon of Hope in 1980. Donations for the Terry Fox Run can be made at Scotiabank branches across Canada.

About Scotiabank

At Scotiabank, we aim to support organizations that are committed to helping young people reach their infinite potential. Young people are our future leaders and Scotiabank's goal is to help ensure that they have the necessary skills and resources they need to support their success. Together with our employees, the Bank supports causes at a grassroots level. Recognized as a leader for our charitable donations and philanthropic activities, in 2018, Scotiabank contributed more than $80 million to help our communities around the world.

Scotiabank is Canada's international bank and a leading financial services provider in the Americas. We are dedicated to helping our more than 25 million customers become better off through a broad range of advice, products and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. With a team of more than 100,000 employees and assets of over $1 trillion (as at July 31, 2019), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: BNS) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: BNS). For more information, please visit www.scotiabank.com and follow us on Twitter @ScotiabankViews.

SOURCE Scotiabank