A team of Queen's University students researching ovarian cancer are organizing this year's walk of hope in Kingston.

“We joined the walk of hope in a previous year, but this year we had a connection with a woman in the oncology department, now we’re actually organizing the walk of hope…This is a walk that stands for hope for a future without ovarian cancer,” says Jacob Kment, PhD student in biochemistry and cell Biology.

Another team member Farzaneh Afzali, PhD student in experimental medicine, says the Queen's Ovarian Cancer Club was formed to connect with more people.

“It was almost two years that me and Jake came together as students studying Ovarian Cancer and we didn’t have any kind of club that we can get together...There are very few students studying ovarian cancer...We just wanted to have an experience and connect more people from clinical studies to academics and promote awareness,” says Afzali.

On Sept. 11, communities across Canada will join in on the walk in support of Ovarian Cancer Canada. The $20 registration fee goes directly to Ovarian Cancer Canada, other items such as t-shirts are also available for purchase to add to the donation. Donations made by the end of the day on Monday, Aug. 22 will be doubled.

“When Ovarian Cancer Canada gets the funding based on their initiatives they can choose whether they donate it to vital research, advocacy efforts, or provide support for women with ovarian cancer,” says Kment.

Participants can sign up to walk in-person or virtually. The in-person walk will be at Lake Ontario Park starting at 10am, while the virtual walk enables participants to walk anywhere.

“You can walk around the neighbourhood, you can walk around the hockey rink, you can even walk on the StairMaster at the local gym," says Kment.

The event will also be an opportunity to learn more about ovarian cancer, and Kment and Afzali’s research.

"I think the disease is a highly specific disease, it gets diagnosed a later stage so there are limited therapies that can successfully target the disease…Chemotherapy and surgery are not working optimally, we need more targeted therapies for this devastating disease," says Kment.

Listen to the full CFRC interview with Jacob Kment and Farzaneh Afzali below: