This October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month brings a breakthrough led by Brock University. Researchers are launching a national study of AskEllyn, an AI companion created in Waterloo Region to support people living with breast cancer and their families.

“My personal mission for breast cancer is that no one diagnosed walks alone,” says founder Ellyn Winters-Robinson, CEO of the Lyndall Project and AskEllyn. “By combining human experience with AI, Ellyn is helping people around the world.”

Funded by a Canadian Cancer Society Disruptive Innovation Grant, the study will test whether AskEllyn can help ease some of the trauma and anxiety that many patients and caregivers face. 

“In this research, we’re trying to get more empirical evidence on the real impacts of these AI tools,” says Amina Silva, an oncology nurse and Assistant Professor of Nursing at Brock University, who’s leading the project with Winters-Robinson. “So, how are they useful for patients? What type of information are patients giving? How are patients using this, and are there still gaps to be filled?  We’re also going to be collecting feedback from participants and using that to improve the tool.”

When cancer changed everything

Winters-Robinson was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago. 

“Being a storyteller, I decided I was going to write a book about it,” she says. “Then I had this collision in tech.”

At the time, she was on a mentoring call at the Accelerator Centre, where she’s been active for nearly two decades. That’s where she connected with the team at Gambit Co, a Waterloo-based AI company.

“Pat Belliveau, Managing Partner at Gambit, was working with AI and believed it could be applied for good,” says Winters-Robinson. “He saw in my story and book an interesting use case. We decided we could build a digital version of me to support people impacted by breast cancer.”

From that conversation, AskEllyn was born.

An AI friend reaching the world

AskEllyn is now approaching her second birthday. 

“She’s in her terrible twos,” says Winters-Robinson.

In that time, AskEllyn’s AI platform has been accessed in 100 countries and speaks in more than 50 languages. People from Australia to Germany have used it for comfort and connection when they need it most.

“She’s really there for companionship. At two o’clock in the morning, when people are frightened and alone, she’s there.”

Silva says that kind of around-the-clock reassurance is what makes AI companions so valuable. With health-care providers increasingly stretched thin, patients often face questions or worries when no one is available to help.

“We can ensure patients have access to support 24/7,” Silva says. “If they have questions in the middle of the night, they can go to AI, not to search for medical advice, but for peer support that’s there for them when health-care providers cannot be.”

The research will test whether that kind of digital support can complement, not replace, traditional care.

Closing the gaps in care

When Winters-Robinson first showed Silva AskEllyn, she immediately recognized its potential.

“It was one of those where-have-you-been-all-my-life moments,” she says.

At the time, Silva was studying how to better support people after cancer treatment. She had been reviewing international research on the unmet needs of breast cancer survivors and developing an educational model of care. When she met Winters-Robinson and learned about AskEllyn’s focus on free, privacy-protected access for patients, everything clicked.

“Ellyn explained how the system worked and how it keeps privacy at the centre,” Silva says. “That really aligned with my own ethics and values.”

Instead of building her own tool from scratch, Silva decided to first study how AskEllyn was already helping patients and where the gaps still existed. That research, she says, will guide future work on survivorship care.

“Our goal is to understand what’s working, what’s missing and how we can build on that to better support people beyond treatment,” says Silva.

“If we can map how people are using AskEllyn and what kind of support they find most helpful, that evidence can be shared widely,” she says. “It opens the door for researchers everywhere to adapt and create similar tools for other cancers.”

A community that shows up

AskEllyn’s story is also Waterloo Region’s story. Winters-Robinson has been part of the region’s tech community for nearly two decades and became the Accelerator Centre’s first mentor to flip the switch and become a founder.

“The community got behind me,” she says. “Two hundred people came out to our launch event.”

She says that spirit of collaboration between research, entrepreneurship and care is what makes Waterloo Region one of Canada’s strongest tech ecosystems, and why ideas like AskEllyn can grow here and reach the world.

Always someone there

Recruitment for Brock’s study is underway, and Silva says the team welcomes new collaborators.

She encourages patients, caregivers and researchers interested in the study to reach out about recruitment or partnership opportunities. The team expects preliminary findings by mid-2026 and plans to share early insights at conferences later this year.

In the meantime, the AskEllyn team, with Gambit’s support, is also moving forward with licensing agreements to bring AskEllyn to even more people.

“I don’t want to stop until every woman and every family member impacted by breast cancer has AskEllyn to hold their hand,” Winters-Robinson says. “And beyond that, the potential is huge.”

Innovation like this doesn’t happen in isolation. Connect with Communitech to meet the founders using tech for good, right here in Waterloo Region.