Eric McCormack brings personal connection to national prostate cancer campaign
Eric McCormack has been involved in cancer-awareness and fundraising campaigns for years. The Toronto-born actor is serving as national ambassador for Prostate Cancer Foundation Canada’s Your Amazing Ride campaign this August.
Eric McCormack is asking Canadians to spend the final days of August getting out for a ride — however they choose to do it.
The Toronto-born Will & Grace actor is serving as national ambassador for Ride to Live — Your Amazing Ride, a fundraising and awareness campaign from Prostate Cancer Foundation Canada.
The campaign invites people across the country to log kilometres during August using different kinds of rides, including bicycles, motorcycles, scooters, boats, ATVs and horses. Prostate Cancer Foundation Canada has described the campaign as a way to raise money and awareness while giving participants considerable freedom over how and how long they take part.
For McCormack, the cause is personal.
His father died from prostate cancer in 2008, a loss McCormack has spoken about during years of advocacy for prostate-cancer research and awareness.
“I lost my dad to prostate cancer in 2008 so Father’s Day is always a little tough,” McCormack told the Canadian Cancer Society in 2020.
At the time, he was serving as an ambassador for the society’s Plaid for Dad campaign. It was already his fifth year participating.
His involvement with Your Amazing Ride continues that work.
Prostate Cancer Foundation Canada has named McCormack one of its Impact Ambassadors as well as national ambassador for the Ride to Live campaign. He has appeared in promotional material encouraging Canadians to participate and joined foundation executive director Mark Mahl on Global News Morning on Aug. 19 to discuss the campaign.
The foundation says money raised through Your Amazing Ride supports prostate-cancer support programs, research and advocacy.
The Canadian Cancer Society estimates 29,300 men in Canada will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2026 and 5,300 will die from it. Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among Canadian men, excluding non-melanoma skin cancers, and the second-leading cause of cancer death among men.
About one in nine Canadian men is expected to develop prostate cancer during his lifetime, according to the society.
Family history is one of the known risk factors. A man’s risk is higher when a first-degree relative such as a father, brother or son has been diagnosed, and increases further when more than one first-degree relative has had the disease.
McCormack, 63, was born in Toronto and became internationally known as Will Truman on Will & Grace. He won the Emmy Award for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for the role in 2001 and received three additional nominations in the category.
His work on Your Amazing Ride puts that celebrity behind a cause he has now supported publicly for years.
With August nearing its end, Prostate Cancer Foundation Canada is continuing to encourage Canadians to register, choose a ride and add their kilometres to the campaign.
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