If you or a loved one has experienced a blood clot after you were diagnosed with cancer or during chemotherapy, you live in Ontario and would like to help CCSN raise awareness about it, please get in touch with CCSN president & CEO Jackie Manthorne at jmanthorne@survivornet.ca.
Every year there are 30,000 incidences of cancer-associated thrombosis in Canada, with approximately 20 to 25 percent of the more than 200,000 Canadians diagnosed with cancer developing blood clots at some point during their cancer treatment. For patients already dealing with cancer, the effects of blood clots, both in terms of quality of life and long-term survival, can be devastating.
Tragically, it is estimated that 2,300 cancer patients will die each year from this common but little known and often under-reported condition. In fact, blood clots are the second leading cause of death in people living with cancer, second to the progression of cancer itself.
Despite its seriousness, public awareness of the connection between cancer and thrombosis remains low. According to a global study, only 18 percent of Canadians consider cancer a risk factor for blood clots.
This is why the topic of this year’s CCSN Queen’s Park Legislative Reception is cancer-associated thrombosis.