Ask just about anyone and more than likely they can tell you how their life has been affected by the C word. No, not cardboard (but don’t get me started on how much cardboard sucks), I am referring to an inconvenient truth; the disease known as cancer.

At a very young age I was faced with the sobering realisation that for generations, cancer had plagued my family tree. Following in my parents’ footsteps, I took to the streets and went door-to-door, canvasing for donations towards the Canadian Cancer Society. As irony would have it, the new millennium spawned a wave of scam artists, leaving people wary and untrustworthy of anyone coaxing you to get out your chequebook (even for a genuine and important cause!)

In 2006, the BC Cancer Foundation created an event to help raise money for cancers deemed “taboo”, and therefore less susceptible to financing for research. The Underwear Affair is a 10km run that helps raise money and bring awareness to all cancers below the waist (Bladder, Colorectal, Pancreas, Prostate, Testicular, Ovarian, Uterine, Cervical). What makes this event stick out (no pun intended) is that participants walk, hop, strut or run in their underwear!

For some, being in public in their tighty whiteys is a living nightmare – for others, they find themselves feeling far too comfortable. In either case, The Underwear Affair has branched out to Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton, and has raised over $2 million to date.

There is no rule that says raising money for a serious cause can’t be a ton of fun. This will be my third year stripping down to my frogboxers, and plan to do so for years to come! I encourage everyone, to be proactive in the fight against a disease that has affected each and every one of us. There is no complacency with sitting back and accepting what we feel is inevitable. The Underwear Affair has truly taken the pants off participants and put the fun in fundraising.