Guess what I’m doing Feb. 23? (This Thursday night, that is). I’m going to the LOVE HER event and fashion show, sponsored by Ovarian Cancer Canada.  It’s going to be a fun night with comedienne and star of CBC’s “Royal Canadian Air Farce” Jessica Holmes as the Master of Ceremonies, Jeanne Beker hosting a fashion show and Shannon Butcher’s jazzy vocals. Love, love, love her. [caption id="attachment_8969" align="aligncenter" width="272" caption="This is my friend Shiraz Bagli, who lost her battle with ovarian cancer. But her courage, her spirit, her beautiful smile and fabulous laugh, we will never forget. And it nurtures our hope for all women diagnosed with this disease. Photo, Giselle Sabatini"] [/caption] The best part? I get to support Ovarian Cancer Canada, the only national charity dedicated to ovarian cancer. The event started when four women wanted to honour their friend, the late Karen Campbell of Toronto, who died of ovarian cancer at the age of 57 in 2010. And to further honour Karen’s memory and all women who have lost their battles with ovarian cancer, and to bring recognition to outstanding work by Canadian researchers, Ovarian Cancer Canada launched the Karen Campbell National Award for Research Excellence. The inaugural recipient is Dr. David Huntsman, director of the Ovarian Cancer Research Program operated jointly by the BC Cancer Agency and Vancouver General Hospital. Dr. Huntsman leads a research team that discovered ovarian cancer is not one disease but is actually made up of five subtypes that behave like distinct diseases. His work has provided a roadmap for clinicians and researchers studying ovarian cancer - Canada’s most fatal gynecologic cancer. It has shed light on practices that could help prevent the disease, and change the way in which it’s diagnosed and treated. I know how those four women feel. We lost our friend Shiraz Bagli to ovarian cancer, and we all felt so helpless watching such a bright spirit dim in the face of a disease that had progressed too far already when it was first diagnosed (there is no screening test for ovarian cancer). We all just wanted to do something. So every year a group of us lace up for Ovarian Cancer Canada’s Walk of Hope to help raise money. Can't make the LOVE HER event in Toronto? Think Vancouver, then. They’re holding the event there, too, on Feb. 29. And if you can’t make either, then think about a donation. Every bit helps. For more info, visit www.love-her.ca. Do you support cancer research? How?