Toronto woman who lost stomach to cancer raising awareness through lighting up monuments

'One of the things we focus on, is hope and to see the light through even the darkest of times'

A Toronto woman who lost her stomach to cancer is raising awareness by lighting up 35 monuments around the world.

Teresa Tiano and her My Gut Feeling campaign is lighting monuments periwinkle blue to raise awareness of stomach cancer.

Monuments include Leaning Tower of Pisa and five other Italian monuments, Las Vegas City Hall, Niagara Falls both sides, the CN Tower, Montreal Olympic Park Tower, Ottawa sign, Calgary Tower, and Victoria’s Parliament.

Tiano says for years she has seen monuments light up for causes such as breast cancer and she wanted to have more awareness for stomach cancer.

She has been engaged in the lightings for years.

“My parents taught us to always help others. I have this stubbornness to try and do something, change something, make a difference against this disease because it has taken so many of my family and friends. It gives me purpose,” she said.

Her foundation brings together oncologists, patients, a dietitian, psychiatrist, gynecologist and survivors together to discuss new treatments,

“One of the things we focus on, is hope and to see the light through even the darkest of times,” Tiano said.

“We wanted to raise awareness, because honestly so few people know about or have even heard of stomach cancer. By the time I was 30, I had lost both my parents to cancer. My father died of colon cancer in 1994 at 65 and my mother died of a brain tumor in 1996 at 59. My patient advocacy really started when my dad was going through colorectal cancer and continued when my mother was diagnosed.”

The Canadian Cancer Society estimates in 2022 that 4,100 Canadians will be diagnosed with stomach cancer and 2,000 Canadians will die from stomach cancer.