Alana Doucette could’ve been excused for missing yesterday’s Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure.
It was just three days earlier the 37-year-old Dartmouth mother of two had undergone a mastectomy in her seven-month fight against the potentially fatal disease.
But Doucette made it a point to be a part of the event – no matter the obstacles facing her.
So, like more than 8,000 others, she was there for the race’s beginning at the Halifax Common. And while she needed to be in a wheelchair for much of the one-kilometre route, Doucette did find the strength to walk across the finish line with her husband Darren and two boys, Ty, 5, and Mitchell, 3, as a cool, light rain fell from the sky.
“I think it’s good to be out. I think it’s good to continue to live your life,” she said next to her family, who walked the route with her “It’s important to be here and I think it’s important that we’re here because we want to save other people’s lives.”
Doucette was diagnosed with breast cancer March 10, and finished her chemotherapy treatments at the end of August. She had never participated in the Run for the Cure before, and was taken aback by how many people were participating – including the large number of those not directly affected by breast cancer.
“You don’t realize until you’re part of something how many people do it just because,” she said. “You see so many people just participating to help get the word out, which is amazing.”
Her husband was also impressed with the crowd – and the continued strength of his wife.
“It’s hit really close to home with us and to see her bounce back after surgery, then to come out in the pouring rain and take part in something like this, it says a lot about her character and her desire for other people to not have to go through the same thing we went through,” he said.
