ALUMNI PROFILE By Andrea Concil
Vicki Fiddler On the Road to a Cure

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Five years ago, Vicki Fiddler decided she wanted to make a difference.

A cancer scare had driven Fiddler to search for deeper meaning in her life. Every year since, she has participated in the two-day, 60-kilometre Weekend to End Breast Cancer walk to benefit Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital. The event has become an important part of her life.

“I have been with the event since the beginning,” says Fiddler. “I feel like a big part of the Weekend to End Breast Cancer.”

The BComm ’83 grad began her WEBC involvement by volunteering the day of her first Weekend to End Breast Cancer. Her dedication has grown each year. She not only participates, she also spends countless hours planning, recruiting and fundraising. She has raised thousands of dollars for cancer research.

Fiddler became aware of the WEBC when a colleague approached her for sponsorship. She had been moved by a friend’s mother’s experience with breast cancer and her own grandmother’s fight against the disease. She decided to learn more about the WEBC.

Impressed by the organization and the enthusiasm of its staff, Fiddler committed herself to helping.

The WEBC requires a minimum individual fundraising amount of $2,000. In 2006 alone, Fiddler raised nearly $14,000, and she has raised nearly $44,000 for the WEBC since 2004. Her team, the Desperate for a Cure Housewives has raised more than $86,000 within the last two years.

Fiddler is a creative fundraiser. She organizes such events as striptease dance classes, belly dancing classes, tarot card readings, and has concerts in her own backyard.

“It is hard work, but fun to do,” Fiddler said. “I am competitive about reaching my own fundraising goals.”

Since the WEBC began five years ago, it has raised $59 million for breast cancer research. But raising awareness is an equally important goal, says Fiddler. She collects information and attempts to educate people about breast cancer through her fundraising efforts. She set up an exhibit in Oakville, ON., Clothesline of Hope, which served as a means to distribute breast self-examination booklets.

“I want to do my part to bring about awareness and inform people about breast cancer,” said Fiddler.

Successfully recruiting others to participate in the event is something Fiddler is proud of, because it generates additional revenue and awareness. The first year Fiddler participated in the WEBC, she did it alone. She now walks with 17 other women.

Fiddler is inspired every year to take part in the WEBC by the breast cancer survivors themselves. They give inspirational speeches at the start of the event, encourage walkers with messages of hope and, at the end of the walk, a line of survivors waits in the holding area, thanking the participants. It is a moving moment, says Fiddler:

“It is a very emotional event – we are there to celebrate the survivors – but solemn, too, in that we also recognize those who are not there.”

ŠJuly 2007