Cancer more than touched Melanie Keats’s life — it applied a sledgehammer.
Her brother died of leukemia at the age of four, and she was diagnosed with two different types of cancer while still in her teens.
“My family was incredible and very important, but for me it was sports: I played volleyball, basketball and field hockey,” she said. “That was my way of being the normal kid and not the sick kid.”
Keats was eight when Terry Fox started his Marathon of Hope, but his journey has always been inspirational to her. She’s been involved in the Terry Fox Run for the past 11 years.
“Cancer has had a significant impact on my family so the Terry Fox Run, people coming together and fighting for a cure, that’s incredible and it’s nice to have this day,” she said.
She gets examined every few years for signs of cancer, but Keats is healthy.
The annual event for Halifax was held in Point Pleasant Park yesterday —different scenery than the usual Halifax Common run.
Run organizer Barbara Fickes said there were more than 150 runners yesterday. After an aerobic-style warm up, the runners — many in corporate teams — took off on the trails behind the Shakespeare by the Sea pavilion.
