Not even a hurricane could stop breast cancer survivors and supporters from lining up at the start line and waiting for the announcer to yell ‘go’ at this year’s annual ‘Run for the Cure’ – a yearly fundraiser organized by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation that gives men, women, and children a chance to run (or walk) in honour of a loved one affected by breast cancer.
Dalhousie was well represented at the event with 16 teams including participants from nursing, medicine, management, occupational therapy, human communication disorders, physiotherapy, law, arts and social sciences along with Dal sports teams, residences, and sororities.
Ashley Drohan, a second year student in medicine and one of the team captains of "Dal Med", raised $1,840 on her own. She says that despite the rain, the run went great.
“Our team consisted of 19 people and we raised $2,075!” she says. “It was really great to see so many people show up for the run and demonstrate their commitment to finding a cure for breast cancer.”
Kathryn Shaw, captain of "Team Titties” raised $2,150 all on her own and her team raised $3,745. Ms. Shaw, who’s been participating in the run for the last six years, says she’s thrilled at how it’s become a cross-Canada event that brings together so many people in the name of a fantastic cause.
Team "WOW"
Team member for Women on Water, Dr. Jacqueline Gahagan, professor in the Department of Health Promotion at Dalhousie, has been participating since 1999 and says there’s been a gradual diversity of participants and more of a focus on survivors.
“Since 1999, there’s been greater visibility and more people are getting involved,” she explains. “There’s more families, more kids, more youth, more university teams. I even saw a young men’s hockey team running this year.”
As founding chairperson of WOW, Prof. Gahagan and her team raised over $3,000. She was pleased to see the amount of energy despite the less than ideal weather.
“It was a cold and rainy Sunday where people could have said, ‘Forget it, I’m sleeping in' – but there was such a huge, energetic crowd there and everyone was so happy and peppered up. It was pretty spectacular.”
Sharing the same goals
Third year nursing student, Denyne Park of team "Dal Nursing" was thrilled she beat her personal goal and raised $2,746 receiving the Halifax award for post-secondary individual fundraiser. As a team of 82 participants including students and faculty, "Dal Nursing" raised a whopping $10,471.50!
“This was our first year competing in the CBCF Post-Secondary Challenge and Dalhousie came in third place across the country,” Ms. Park explains. “This is so amazing and we should be really proud of our students and faculty for their commitment to philanthropy, community involvement, and health promotion.”
“The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure is extremely thrilled with the support and fundraising efforts of students, faculty, alumni and staff involved in the Post-Secondary Challenge (PSC) in Atlantic Canada,” says Kelly Hudson, CBCF event coordinator for the Atlantic region. “The PSC was created to encourage participation at the post-secondary level and it was definitely a huge success! Schools take pleasure in rivaling each other and teams of any level seem to love a good challenge. It was a great way to show community spirit and involvement and to raise funds for a worthwhile cause. “
Next year, Ms. Park hopes to beat the $10,000 mark and attract more participants to her team.
“We run because many of us have been touched by breast cancer in our personal and professional lives,” she states. “And as the future nurses of Canada, we share the same goal as the CBCF - to someday live in a world that is free of breast cancer.”
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