LONDON, Ont. - The Western Mustangs traditional purple will be replaced by pink when the women’s basketball team hosts the Brock Badgers in the CIS’s 3rd annual Shoot for a Cure game on Jan. 16 at Alumni Hall at 1 p.m. 

The event has had great success the last two years with support from fans, and Western is striving for another successful game this year. With your support the Mustangs can help donate to finding a cure for breast cancer that has taken the lives of many women, and affected the lives of many others.

The University of Western Ontario is proud and honoured to be home to many tremendous student athletes both past and present. From 1950 to 1955, it was home to Patricia (Cooper) Prowse. Prowse majored in physical education and attended teachers college, while participating in varsity basketball and cheerleading.  

Her daughter Dianne described her as “energetic, loved life, and was an incredible athlete.” After graduating in 1955, Prowse and her husband Don, also a tremendous athlete who was eventually inducted into the Western Hall of Fame in 1995, moved to Sarnia where she obtained her first teaching job at Northern High School. The Prowses relocated back to London where Pat continued to teach at Wheable High School. She not only taught physical education but she pursued her passion for cheerleading by coaching the cheer squad after classes.

Pat and her husband went on to have two children, David and Dianne. Exactly one year after Dianne’s birth, Prowse noticed an abnormal lump on her breast. She endured many misdiagnoses and mistreatment for a lengthy period of time before being diagnosed with breast cancer. After having a double mastectomy and many cancer treatments, Prowse lost her battle with breast cancer six years later at the age of 37.

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, breast cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian women like Pat Prowse. The possibility of a women getting breast cancer is 1 in 9 and the probability of dying from it is 1 in 28, when diagnosed.

 In 2009:

• An estimated 22,700 women would have been diagnosed with breast cancer and 5,400 would have died of it. 
• An estimated 180 men would have been diagnosed with breast cancer and 50 would have died of it. 
• On average, 437 Canadian women would have been diagnosed with breast cancer every week. 
• On average, 104 Canadian women will have died of breast cancer every week.

These numbers give us an indication that the need for a cure for is still high. It is for strong women like Western’s own Pat Prowse that Western holds the annual “Shoot for a Cure” women’s basketball game this year against Brock Badgers. The game takes place Saturday Jan 16 at 1pm at Alumni Hall. All those who attend are invited to sport their pink and share their support for the fight against breast cancer. Proceeds raised from this event go to Theresa Carriere’s One Run campaign.