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Choirs for Cancer

To mark World Cancer Day (04 February), hundreds of singers across the world will lend their voices in an online community tribute to those whose lives have been touched by cancer. ‘Choirs for Cancer 2021’ brings together cancer patients, family members, allied medical professionals and cancer researchers to share the story of their cancer journey. These stories will be interspersed with inspirational songs from multiple choirs from around the world, many linked with cancer support centres or cancer fundraising efforts. ‘Choirs for Cancer 2021’ also recognises the tireless work of patient advocates, including Sheila Kissane (UK) and Roberta Horgan (Ireland), as well as highlighting ongoing advances in cancer research. ‘Choirs for Cancer’ is jointly organised by Precision Oncology Ireland, the Patient Voice in Cancer Research and the All-Island Cancer Research Institute, together with the ongoing support of the ‘Choirs for Cancer’ committee.

Agenda

‘Choirs for Cancer 2021’ will hear singers, including school children, young adults, cancer patients and their families, from Boston, Philadelphia, New York; from Umeå, Sweden and Trelew, Argentina, as well as Ireland, the United Kingdom and Italy. We also hear poignant stories from individuals on their cancer journey; reinforcing the reality that cancer affects most families across the world in some degree. Cancer has no borders.

Each choir will sing a song with a special meaning to them on the theme of togetherness, followed by a combined choral performance of ‘From Now On’, a song from The Greatest Showman.

Choirs

Snowflake Singers, Sweden
Shout at Cancer Choir, UK
The Quay of Sea Voices Choir (part of the Fine Voice Academy), UK
The Philadelphia Boys Choir & Chorale and Philadelphia Girls Choir, USA
Women's Voices Chorus, USA
UCD Community Choir, Ireland
The Line-Up Choir, Ireland
Mason-Rice Chorus, USA
Tenovus Cancer Care’s Sing with Us Choir, Wales
St. Mary's Secondary School, Ireland
Voci Fuori Dal Coro, Italy
@WeAreInPuglia, Italy
The Healthy Harmony Choir, Ireland
The Municipal Choir of Trelew, Argentina
Sing for Hope, USA
Dublin Gospel Choir, Ireland
Mount Sion School Choir, Ireland
Loreto College, Ireland
Adam Ezra Group, USA
Sea of Change Choir, Ireland
Solas Men’s Choir, Ireland

World Cancer Day

World Cancer Day, the global uniting initiative led by the Union for International Cancer Control, is marked each year on 4th February. World Cancer Day empowers people across the world to show support, raise our collective voice, take personal action and press governments to do more. The theme of World Cancer Day is ‘I Am and I Will’ - an empowering call-to-action urging for personal commitment, and representing the power of individual action taken now to impact the future. More than one third of cancer cases can be prevented. Another third can be cured if detected early and treated properly. By implementing resource-appropriate strategies on prevention, early detection and treatment, we can save up to 3.7 million lives every year.

Choirs for Cancer 2020

Choirs for Cancer brought together 10 choirs and more than 300 singers in a moving community tribute to those whose lives have been touched by cancer. The event, attended by more than 700 people, was held in O’Reilly Hall in University College Dublin on 4^th February 2020, to mark World Cancer Day.

Choirs for Cancer brought together cancer patients, advocates, survivors and family members to share the story of their cancer journey. Cancer researchers also spoke of their motivation and progress towards finding new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat this devastating disease.

These powerful stories were interspersed with inspirational songs by 10 choirs from across the island of Ireland, many of whom were linked with cancer support centres, or had lost family members to cancer. Contributors included Mount Sion School Choir from Co. Waterford; the ARC Dublin ‘ARC Angels’ choir; the Healthy Harmony choir from Ennis; the Sing for Life Choir from Cancer Focus Northern Ireland; and the UCD Community Choir, among others. Each choir sang a song with a special meaning to them on the themes of care, hope, strength, love, loss and community, followed by a combined choral performance. Contributions from choirs, patients and well-wishers unable to travel on the day were featured in video clips shown in between performances. The event was co-hosted by RTE broadcasters, Miriam O'Callaghan and Marty Morrissey.

One of the highlights of the day was an emotional rendition of ‘Don’t give up on me’ from Mount Sion Choir, which they dedicated to terminal cancer patient John Wall, who, in his own words, is “Living with cancer, and not dying from it”. John was in the front row and the first to rise for a spontaneous standing ovation. He later said “Words just can't describe how honoured I was to hear Mount Sion Choir sing today. One of the most powerful & inspirational events I've ever attended”. Another high point was the powerful final group performance by all ten choirs, singing the song ‘Something Inside So Strong’ in one united voice.

Overall, the event was a resounding success, with overwhelmingly positive feedback from both contributors and attendees. One choir member later commented “Music is so powerful in so many ways and especially ensemble singing. I believe you have found a very special format with which to celebrate everyone whose path crosses cancer, in whatever form that may take”.

The event gained significant traction on social media (84,000 mentions of #choirsforcancer2020), and photo and video content featured on a number of media outlets including the Irish Times. The event was also chosen to feature in the World Cancer Day highlights video, which showed clips of selected events from around the globe.

This cancer awareness event was timed to coincide with the 20^th anniversary of World Cancer Day, the global uniting initiative led by the Union for International Cancer Control. One in two people in Ireland today will develop cancer during their lifetime. The theme of World Cancer Day is 'I Am and I Will' – a statement of who you are and what is your personal commitment to act. It is a powerful reminder that we all have a role to play in reducing the global impact of cancer.

Choirs for Cancer was jointly organised by Precision Oncology Ireland and The Patient Voice in Cancer Research.

A short video of the event can be found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUxRSV7czrs