The inaugural meeting of the 'soon-to-be' BC Lymphedema Association was held on March 21, 2006 in a Vancouver restaurant.  Catherine DiCecca, a Registered Massage Therapist with a practice in Vancouver, had brought together three of her patients to meet.  She had already spoken to them individually about their various issues they were dealing with and thought that by forming some sort of group, perhaps more could be done to help each other.

Everyone had woes to tell of compression garment issues - poor fit and long wait times between ordering and receiving.  We all wanted to be able to learn more by trading information about limb care (what's worked and what hasn't) and to educate the public, medical community, and insurers about the issues lymphedema sufferers have to deal with.  Catherine was able to let us know what other provinces and organizations were doing and suggested we could learn from them given they were already established.  We left that evening feeling empowered and excited that perhaps together we could create positive change to meet our needs! 

We continued to meet and gather information about how to become a registered BC Society and get our charity status.  Along the way, more people joined in our quest and we began to build the association we have today.  We are indebted to the Alberta Lymphedema Association for the many phone calls and emails helping us step-by-step.

In the Fall of '07, we had done an extended planning session and come up with our Mission Statement, Goals, and Objectives with the help of a professional business coach.   Another friend developed the logo for us, and many of the Board members loaned money to the Association to begin our work.

We have also started to communicate on a national level with other Canadian lymphedema associations.  Currently, we have monthly conference calls to share information and learn how we can have a stronger voice together to make an impact.

After much organizing, we finally are ready to 'launch' and had our 'coming out party' at the North Vancouver Lymphedema Awareness & Networking Day on June 20th at the Delbrook recCentre. 

We look forward to our growth and ability to advocate for and support the many people in BC now and in the future that are living with this condition.  We trust that there are many other people living in BC that will want to get behind our work and join us through membership, volunteering, and donating. 

Until there is a cure, we will continue to promote living healthy and hopeful lives with lymphedema!