Download the full issue of Philanthropist Fall 2013 at https://medicine-advancement.dal.ca/files/documents/Philanthropist_Fall_2013.pdf

The first time that cancer survivor Alice Bowlin and cancer researcher Dr. Paola Marignani met, something struck a chord.

“Dr. Paola came and gave a talk to our group at Breast Cancer Action Nova Scotia, and I was so impressed by her work and her devotion,” recalls Alice of her first encounter with Dr. Marignani in 2010. “I said to my daughter, Pat, who was sitting next to me, ‘We are going to help Dr. Paola!’”

Meanwhile, Dr. Marignani had taken notice of Alice Bowlin in the crowd. “Even though I was involved in giving my talk, I could clearly see how actively Alice was listening,” says Dr. Marignani, an associate professor at Dalhousie Medical School. “I could feel the intensity of her focus.”

Even so, Dr. Marignani was taken by surprise when, a few days later, she received a call from Dalhousie Medical Research Foundation letting her know that Alice wanted to support her research through its Adopt-a-Researcher program. “I had to wonder what I had said that inspired her to take this step,” she says. “It was a huge surprise, and a welcome one!”

Alice now gives twice yearly gifts directed to Dr. Marignani’s breast cancer research program—in addition to her ongoing, long-term support of the Molly Appeal—and her eldest daughter Barb recently contributed as well. Alice, her daughters and granddaughters have visited Dr. Marignani’s lab, to see the research in action and ask as many questions as they like.

“Alice and her family are genuinely interested in what we’re doing,” Dr. Marignani says. “They ask very insightful questions and follow our progress closely. It’s amazing to have this direct contact with donors, to see their interest and commitment, and to share our successes as we go.”

Alice, meanwhile, is thrilled to have front row seats on groundbreaking cancer research taking place right here in the Maritimes. “When I give to Paola, I know that it’s being put to good use,” she says. “I plan to keep giving to her research until I’m gone. She works so hard and she’s so positive about what she’s doing. She needs our support.”

A retired nurse who started Bowlin Farms in Lower Sackville, NS, with her late husband Gerald in the 1970s, Alice is passionate about research. She’s seen the pain and anguish of cancer—as a patient and as a volunteer with Breast Cancer Action Nova Scotia—and knows that research is the answer to better and safer treatments.

For Alice, cancer came crashing down at a time when she was already stressed in the extreme. In 2007, her husband died, and her 17-year-old granddaughter suffered a severe head injury falling off a horse. “I’d scarcely begun to grieve my loss when suddenly, here was Jacklyn with a brain injury,” Alice recalls. “We came close to losing her and were told she would never walk again.”

Not long afterwards, Alice noticed the lump in her breast during a self-examination. “I think the cancer was triggered by stress,” she says. “Luckily, I found it early and had a mastectomy before it could spread to the lymph nodes… I didn’t need radiation or chemotherapy but, because my cancer was hormonal, I took pills for five years.”

This August marked the end of those five years—five years in which Jacklyn was able to recover her language skills and learn to walk again. Five years of survival also means that Alice’s risk of recurrence is now very low—so there are many reasons to be thankful.

“I’m so glad I can finally stop taking the medication,” says Alice. “It gave me brain fog and other uncomfortable symptoms. Now I feel like I can really clean out my system.” She and her family are committed to eating pure, healthy foods, including the free range meat and eggs and organic vegetables they grow on their farm. “That’s how I’ve been able to stay as healthy as I have over the course of cancer treatment, I’m sure of it.”

Dr. Marignani has had the pleasure of visiting Alice and her family at Bowlin Farms. “They make me feel so welcome and so comfortable,” she says. “Everyone is interested in my work and wants to know how they can help.”

Dr. Marignani’s research bears direct relevance to Alice’s cancer. She and her team have developed a pre-clinical model of an aggressive form of breast cancer that they’re using to test potential treatments based on what she’s observed in the cancers at the molecular level. (see researcher profile on left for more about Dr. Marignani’s research).

“We’re so proud of Dr. Paola, she is fantastic,” says Alice, who now keeps herself busy organizing a network of volunteers to sew supportive heart-shaped pillows to give to women after their mastectomies, to relieve their discomfort during the long healing process.

Of Alice, Dr. Marignani says, “She sparkles, she’s radiant, she’s just one of those people you can’t help being drawn to, and to listen to… she’s very inspirational.”

It seems that, in their mutual admiration and inspiration, this cancer survivor and cancer researcher are together advancing leading-edge breast cancer research right here in the Maritimes.