Walking 60 kilometres is the easy part of the Weekend to End Breast Cancer.
“It’s hard, there’s no question about it. There’s blisters, there’s aching muscles, but blisters heal,” said Christina Enright.
“Any of the people on our team that are not survivors, they push through just by looking at the rest of us and saying, ‘if you can go through cancer treatment, then I can walk 60K.’”
Enright went through treatment five years ago at the Winchester District Memorial Hospital, which operates as a satellite of the Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre.
She had surgery, chemotherapy and radiation and is currently cancer-free.
Yesterday was Enright’s third walk and she was team captain of the Winchester Hospital Heelers, which was the top fundraising team of the weekend, bringing in $150,000.
Mary Bellefeuille said her legs and feet were “killing” her after crossing the finishing line at Rockcliffe Landing, “but, you know, that isn’t anything compared to breast cancer.”
Bellefeuille was a member of team CIBC, which raised more than $52,000 among 21 team members and allocated its funds to the 20-20 Campaign to fund the expansion of The Ottawa Hospital Cancer Centre.
In total, around 1,000 people brought in $2.1 million in the fourth annual Weekend to End Breast Cancer with funds going to the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation to finance research, treatment and care for patients with breast cancer.
This year, money will go towards all women’s cancers, but Enright pointed out “any advancement in cancer treatment has to have a positive outcome for other cancers as well.”
The fifth annual Weekend to End Breast Cancer benefiting the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation will be held June 5-6, 2010.
