Yesterday may have been all about Terry, but many runners and walkers had their own reasons for participating in the 29th annual Ottawa Terry Fox Run yesterday.
And organizers encouraged the 1,500 people to think about the people they knew who were affected as they ran, walked, biked and skated the 10-kilometre course — people like committee member Andre Gauthier, who lost his battle with brain cancer in March at the age of 56, and to whom the run was dedicated; and 19-year-old Misha Garcia, who is currently fighting brain cancer at Roger’s House.
Participating in the run for the sixth year, the seven members of Carol’s Pod Chicks were out to honour Carol Lem, a Health Canada worker who died from liver cancer.
“It’s one of those diseases that affects everyone one way or another,” said Ottawa resident Patricia Hubert, who participated along with Lem’s husband, Doug Cargo, Lem’s niece, Caroline Delany, and several co-workers.
Participants raised $230,000 for the Terry Fox Foundation yesterday —slightly up from last year, said run co-chair Jerri Southcott.
The money from the Ottawa event — which has raised $4 million for the Terry Fox Foundation in previous years — stays in the community.
Dr. Garth Nicholas of the Ottawa Hospital Regional Cancer Centre is leading a study into the early detection of lung cancer.
“The project, and other research like this, is funded as a result of the fundraising we do here,” he said.
