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Rethink Breast Cancer is a registered Canadian charity with 25 years of experience driving education, support and advocacy for younger women affected by breast cancer.

Rethink is known for its bold, culture-shaping approach to challenging the status quo and closing gaps in care. Working alongside patients, healthcare professionals, researchers and diverse partners, Rethink drives real change that addresses the unique needs and experiences of younger women impacted by breast cancer. More than a charity, Rethink is a movement—revolutionizing what it means to live with and beyond breast cancer.

Our Why

In 2001, no one was talking about how younger women could be impacted by breast cancer. The system wasn’t built for them. The support wasn’t built for them. The conversations weren’t built for them.


And too often, younger women were left hearing: “You’re too young.” But the reality is that breast cancer doesn’t care when your birthday is.


In Canada, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Younger women in their 40s and under can and do get breast cancer, often facing more aggressive subtypes and higher risks of recurrence and metastasis.

 

That’s why Rethink began. To challenge the status quo. To help younger women be breast empowered. To rethink breast cancer.

 

“Rethink is reimagining the future of breast cancer for younger people, so they live better and longer—boldly transforming isolation into community and awareness into action.” – MJ DeCoteau, Founder & Executive Director

 

Rethink Breast Cancer Key Collaborators

Who We Are

MISSION

Rethink empowers younger women to take charge of their breast health and is revolutionizing what it means to live with and beyond breast cancer. Rethink fosters community, shares credible information, fills gaps in care, and helps drive meaningful systemic change.

 

VISION

The world’s most innovative and impactful breast cancer charity, dedicated to transforming education, care and access for all.

 

VALUES

Innovation, creativity, care, courage, integrity, impact.

We get it. We got you.

Our Approach

Here is how we’re reimagining the future of breast cancer for younger women, so they live better and longer:

EDUCATE

We simplify complex health topics so younger women have the information they need and resources that feel relevant to their unique life stage.

GET RESOURCES

EMPOWER

SUPPORT

We provide accessible, tailored support that reflects the real needs of younger women, across topics often left unspoken.

GET SUPPORT

COMMUNITY

Rethink creates safe, inclusive spaces where young women can build meaningful connections from monthly expert-led and peer support programs to in-person community hangouts across the country.

FIND COMMUNITY

ADVOCATE

Rethink advocates for positive change in breast cancer care and the future of the healthcare system. We take on big challenges that others won’t, like improving cancer data collection to expanding access to breakthrough treatments.

ADVOCATE WITH US

Partner with us

Our approach to partnerships is unique. We’ve said goodbye to the transactional model and instead lean into partnerships that feel aligned and are anchored in impact. We value authenticity in our work and the same goes with our partnerships. Our partners genuinely care about the work we do and who we do it for, playing such an integral role in rethinking breast cancer.

Learn more
Rethink is revolutionizing what it means to live with and beyond breast cancer.
MEET OUR TEAM
LEARN ABOUT OUR IMPACT

In honour of the land we work on. The Rethink team is grateful and honoured to work on the traditional territory of several First Nations, such as the Anishnabeg, including the Mississaugas of the Credit and the Chippewa, as well as the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples, which is home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples today. This sacred land is covered by Treaty 13, signed with the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the Williams Treaties, signed with multiple Mississaugas and Chippewa bands. We continue to listen and learn about the truth of what has occurred throughout history and hold gratitude for our privilege to call this place home. We honour and acknowledge with deep respect the history, the spirituality, the culture and the wisdoms shared over millennia and we stand in solidarity and allyship with the Indigenous peoples of these lands and beyond in their fight for land, self-determination and decolonization.