New medication gives hope to dozens walking for bladder cancer

It’s the fifth most common cancer in Canada.

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, an estimated 8300 Canadians were diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2015, 2300 died of the illness, more than half of those were men.

Dozens of people laced up for the 7th annual Bladder Cancer Walk Sunday to raise awareness and funding for the disease.

The walk began with an exciting announcement from Dr. Bob Turner about a medication being developed to treat the illness in Edmonton.

“There’s a new medication that’s being developed that’s going to help in the fight against bladder cancer and that’s great news,” Gerry Maciejko, with Bladder Cancer Canada, said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There's a new medication that's being developed that's going to help in the fight against bladder cancer and that's great news," Gerry Maciejko, with Bladder Cancer Canada, said.

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The research into that medication was funding by annual events like the walk.

“Bladder cancer is certainly not one of the well-known forms of cancer- yet it is one of the most expensive to treat and receives very little funding from other sources,” Maciejko said.

According to Bladder Cancer Canada, the illness is expensive to treat because of its high rate of recurrence.

“Because of the rareness of the disease- it doesn’t get the attention and hence the funding that other forms of cancer do.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Because of the rareness of the disease- it doesn't get the attention and hence the funding that other forms of cancer do."

Last year’s walked raise over $33,000 and organizers are hoping to beat that total this year.