Help establish an Early Onset Colorectal Cancer Clinic

Dear friends, family, fellow colleagues, and community partners,

On November 17, 2022, at age 36 I was diagnosed with stage 4 colorectal cancer (CRC). I was previously healthy and had no known risk factors. I was initially misdiagnosed which resulted in a significant delay in my overall diagnosis. My story is unfortunately not unique. Colorectal cancer is sharply on the rise amongst younger people (age less than 50 is considered early onset CRC). Like me, most of these early onset patients are being diagnosed at a late/advanced stage 4.

It has been nearly two years since my diagnosis. I have gone through 25+ cycles of chemo, had my primary tumor and liver met resected, and am now left with metastatic disease isolated to my lungs. I have been through a clinical trial at MD Anderson in Houston, and most recently sought out an off label private pay immunotherapy regimen to which I was finally seeing a response. I’ve recently had few bumps in the road which have affected my treatment and I have had to stop immunotherapy but I am still optimistic and hopeful I will find a path to a cure. Despite being a physician myself, I have had to learn through this experience how to tirelessly fight and advocate for myself as a patient.

The current system at BC Cancer also known as The BC Cancer Agency (BCCA) is overstrained and overwhelmed, overbureaucratic, and overburdened. Young patients with early onset CRC are being offered the same outdated and bare minimum treatment protocols that are the same being used to treat patients in their 70s and 80s with the same condition. Early onset CRC patients require unique and individualized approaches to their treatment and require specific and unique supports not currently offered or accessible through BC Cancer.

Currently at BCCA, if you present with stage 4 CRC, the majority of patients are told their prognosis is two years or less, and will be facing chemotherapy for life. And this chemotherapy will not be curative, just life prolonging.

This is why I am taking action. I feel uniquely positioned as a physician as has going through this battle with stage 4 early onset CRC. I am also a clinic owner of multidisciplinary clinic located right in the heart of Downtown Vancouver at Genetica Medical & Wellness Centre.

https://geneticamedical.com/

I can assure you that there is a huge gap in the care currently being offered and provided by the BC Cancer. Through my journey I have met many other young patients affected by advanced CRC, some of whom have very sadly passed away. I know for a fact that so much more could have been done for them to save or extend their lives. It is for the people I have already lost that makes so passionate about this cause, I truly believe that such a clinic can and will help to save and extend lives.

To move this initiative forward, I am the process of establishing a foundation, the Marko Yurkovich Colorectal Cancer Foundation (MY CRC Foundation) to provide funding to establish an early onset clinic here in Vancouver. 

The mission of the Early Onset Colorectal Cancer Clinic (EOCCC) is to provide compassionate, comprehensive, and cutting-edge care for individuals diagnosed with early onset colorectal cancer. We are dedicated to advancing treatment options, supporting patients and their families, and improving quality of life throughout their cancer journey. Our goal is to enhance outcomes and foster a community of strength and resilience for those impacted by early onset colorectal cancer.

Early/Young onset CRC clinics have been already been established at Sunnybrook in Toronto and Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York and we would work off a similar framework.

Right now, we are still in process of getting CRA approval for the foundation. The CRA approval process is expected to take 6 months or possibly longer. Once approved, we hope to be able to offer tax receipts for your kind and generous donations.

Thank you so very much to you all for your support! Each and every donation ever warms my heart and brings hope to me and so many others...

With warm and heartfelt greetings,

Dr. Marko Yurkovich