Canada’s Dufferin County Council Proclaims Worldwide NET Cancer Awareness Day

The Dufferin County Council in Ontario, Canada, has named November 10th as Worldwide NET Cancer Awareness Day.  This is the first municipal proclamation for the Worldwide NET Cancer Awareness Day in Ontario and in Canada. All members of the council signed the proclamation at the October 14th council meeting held in Orangeville. The Dufferin County Council consists of 14 members from 8 area municipalities.

Left to right: Linda Dean, Chief Administrative Officer for Dufferin County; Warren Maycock, Deputy Mayor of Orangeville; Maureen Coleman, President of CNETS Canada; and Bev Claxton of Orangeville

Maureen Coleman, president of the Carcinoid Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (CNETS) of Canada; Linda Dean, Dufferin’s Chief Administrative Officer; and Bev Claxton, Orangeville resident, were all present for the proclamation. Ms. Coleman, Ms. Claxton, and Ms. Dean are all NET patients. The Headwaters Health Care Centre in Orangeville be will the location for an event on November 5th to further promote NET cancer awareness and to acknowledge the professional staff who suspected a neuroendocrine tumor in a local patient.

The goal of the first Worldwide NET Cancer Awareness Day on November 10, 2010 is to raise awareness about cancers called neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) and the need for timely detection and diagnosis. More than 90% of all NET patients are incorrectly diagnosed and initially treated for the wrong disease. Misdiagnoses or delayed diagnoses mean that NET patients are treated on average five to seven years for the wrong disease; often the correct diagnosis is not made until the disease has spread (metastasized).  For more information about the global campaign, visit www.netcancerday.org.