We want to extend our deepest gratitude to everyone who attended, volunteered and donated to the MPS Cup event supporting those affected by MPS. Your participation made our event a huge success. If you missed the event but would still like to contribute, donations can be made online through our “independent fundraiser” option. Simply indicate “MPS CUP fundraiser in the Details section.
The MPS CUP 20th Anniversary Celebration was held to honour the legacy of the fourteen MPS CUP events that ran from 2003-2014 (12 in BC and 2 in Ontario), raising $1M for the Canadian Society for Mucopolysaccharide and Related Disorders, Inc. (Canadian MPS Society), as well as critical awareness about these rare, devastating disorders. A lot has changed in the MPS landscape over the past 20 years, including the introduction of several enzyme replacement therapies; however, the needs of the Canadian MPS Society remain the same as the organization continues to support families and fund research for a cure.
The gala celebration included a dinner, silent and live auctions, and live entertainment, an update on the many advances that have taken place in the MPS landscape over the past two decades, from Dr. Lorne Clarke, professor emeritus at UBC and long-time former chair of the Canadian MPS Society’s medical advisory board, as well as a speech from Jansen Harkins, whose brother Nicklas was the inspiration for the MPS CUP events after he was diagnosed with MPS I in 2001. The 20th Anniversary of the inaugural MPS CUP coincides with the 20th Anniversary of Nicklas’s first enzyme replacement therapy, which he received August 27th, 2003. He is thriving and entering his third year of law school at UBC. The event was held on August 29, 2023 at the Seymour Golf and Country Club, N. Vancouver.