EDMONTON ESKIMOS WOMEN'S DINNER PROCEEDS ESCEED $500,000


When Hugh Campbell was the Edmonton Eskimos’ President and CEO, Pam Monastyrskyj was the heartbeat of the CFL team’s front office.

Monastyrskyj spent more than 21 years with the Eskimos’ organization, including 18 years as Campbell’s executive assistant, until she lost a four-year battle with ovarian cancer at the age of 45 in 2005.


The Edmonton Eskimos Women’s Dinner was created by co-workers, friends and fans to honour the woman who was very passionate about the Esks, loved to laugh and represented courage, strength and grace. More than $450,000 has been raised through the annual dinner, which began in 2009 to provide long-term sustainable funding for ovarian cancer research for physicians and researchers at the Lois Hole Hospital for Women. That number will surpass the $500,000 mark this year.

“Ovarian cancer, unfortunately, is often caught too late once the cancer has spread so the prognosis tends to be bad,” said Dr. Lynne-Marie Postovit, who leads a team of investigators doing ovarian cancer research in the University of Alberta’s Department of Oncology. “Like any cancer, if we can catch it earlier, we have a better chance of curing the cancer.”

Dr. Postovit is hopeful the recent discovery of “about 10 proteins that we think might be able to identify ovarian cancers” could help detect the disease earlier than usual within the next year or so.

“It’s always hard to be working so diligently on something and not be able to do something right now for that person,” she continued. “These ladies are all so incredibly inspirational so they’re fighting, not just for themselves, but often for their daughters, for their friends, for the ladies who come after them.”

Proceeds from the Edmonton Eskimos Women’s Dinner have been used to dedicate a room in Monastyrskyj’s honour at the Lois Hole Hospital for Women and fund significant room upgrades so the hospital can continue to deliver the compassionate patient care to those in their time of need.

Interest from the Edmonton Eskimos Women’s Ovarian Cancer Research Endowment fund is part of the $1 million in funding the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation provides every year to the Women and Children’s Health Research Institute for sustained research in women’s health concerns and diseases, including ovarian cancer.