The Crossroads Singers

The Cause

I’m part of a choir called the Crossroad Singers, made up of cancer survivors, caregivers and supporters.  We were part of the Arts in Medicine Program at the Cross Cancer Institute here in Edmonton for the past 12 years.  Very recently, the Cross advised us that they had to cut our program, along with a few others, because they couldn’t afford to support them any longer.

Aside from the research that supports the therapeutic value of regular choral singing, the strong social supports that the choir provides have proven to be of inestimable value to long-term cancer survivors like myself, as well as short-term drop-ins who travel here for chemo and radiation. We now practice weekly at St. Paul’s Church and go out into the community (in the spring, and pre-Christmas) to sing for patients in extended care facilities.

Who Will it Benefit?

We consider this choir to be a potentially soul-saving aspect of cancer recovery that needs to be shared with all those who are dealing with the effects of the disease long after their medical treatments are finished and they are unceremoniously discharged from the cancer care system.