Princess Margaret Cancer Centre hosts charity cricket match, raises upwards of $1M

Julia Alevato · CBC News

· Posted: May 31, 2025 4:51 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

More than 400 cricketers and celebrities gathered Saturday successful Mississauga astatine the inaugural Cricket to Conquer Cancer lawsuit to rise funds for the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre's research. 

Canadian creator Jully Black was 1 of the personage ambassadors attending the fundraiser and said the lawsuit feels "personal" to her. 

"Cancer has tally done my family," she told CBC Toronto connected Saturday. "Unfortunately, I mislaid my ma 7 years agone to pancreatic cancer."

The Canadian Cancer Society says that 2 successful 5 Canadians are expected to beryllium diagnosed with crab successful their lifetime.

When Black was 27 years old, she recovered a lump successful her close breast. She said doctors astatine the clip told her she was excessively young for a mammogram. 

She said her doc had to advocator for her to bash each the tests, but that luckily it was conscionable a mendacious alarm.

"Early detection is key," she said. "We request the research, but we besides request the acquisition and the aboriginal detection."

Barbados-born nonrecreational cricketer Carlos Brathwaite said the fundraising lawsuit brings unneurotic 2 things that are adjacent to his heart: crab and cricket.

Brathwaite said his parent battled crab successful Barbados portion helium was starting his nonrecreational vocation overseas. 

"I cognize however hard it is for friends, for families who can't beryllium determination with loved ones," Brathwaite told CBC Toronto connected Saturday.

He said helium besides wants to bring consciousness to the value of crab probe and however that helped his parent bushed cancer. 

"When she told maine she had cancer, I thought it was a decease sentence. And truly and truly, due to the fact that of the research, that means that crab is not a decease sentence," Brathwaite said. 

"Although she hasn't been treated here, there's a batch of probe that has been done by Princess Margaret and that's been disseminated to galore different hospitals and crab centres astir the world."

Brathwaite said helium flew successful from Barbados to beryllium 1 of the event's personage ambassadors, alongside Black. Other personage ambassadors included Canadian erstwhile nonrecreational hoops subordinate Jamaal Magloire and Canadian erstwhile nonrecreational shot subordinate Dwayne De Rosario. 

The apical fundraising teams had the accidental to draught the personage players onto their teams done a personage draught connected Friday. 

The president and CEO of the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation said it feels inspiring to motorboat an inaugural cricket lawsuit for the hospital.

"Cricket is Canada's fastest increasing sport," Miyo Yamashita told CBC Toronto connected Saturday.

"It's besides a athletics that is followed hugely by a increasing fig of Canadians, peculiarly the Southeast Asian assemblage and the Caribbean community, and those communities person rather unsocial crab needs," she said. 

Yamashita said Southeast Asian Canadians thin to person higher incidences of definite types of cancers, similar oral cancers, esophageal cancers, and caput and cervix cancers. 

Caribbean men person a higher incidence of prostate crab and are much apt to dice from it, she said.

Yamashita said each the proceeds raised from Saturday's lawsuit volition spell to the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation and volition enactment 3 areas: crab aboriginal detection, innovative treatments, and broad crab support, which includes enactment for caregivers and intelligence wellness support.

"We deliberation those areas unneurotic tin truly assistance make a satellite escaped from the fearfulness of cancer," she said.

She said the extremity for the lawsuit was to rise $500,000, but arsenic of Saturday evening, it had already passed a cardinal dollars.