Running for cure
Breast cancer survivor Steff Martin will be among the crowd of runners Sunday at the CIBC Run for the Cure.
On Sunday, fighters and survivors of breast cancer, and their supporters, will participate in the 21st annual CIBC Run for the Cure.
One survivor, Steff Martin, will be among the crowd of runners.
“Nothing could have prepared me to hear those words, ‘It’s cancer,’” said Martin. “My world was instantly turned upside down.”
It was the day before her daughter’s second birthday. Martin told The Telegram she couldn’t help but wonder if breast cancer would be in her daughter’s future.
“I decided to do the Run for the Cure two months after my final radiation treatment,” said Martin. “I raised $5,000. I’m going to do all I can to make sure my daughter doesn’t have to face this horrible disease, and to keep me here as long as possible.”
CIBC Run for the Cure is partnered with the Canadian Cancer Society.
“Over the past 21 years, the CIBC Run for the Cure, and the previous Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, have raised more than $350 million for breast cancer research,” said Alexandra Stapleton, eastern region community resource coordinator with the Canadian Cancer Society.
Stapleton said all money raised goes toward funding support services and research.
“The way we do research is that we fund the best research in Canada,” said Stapleton. “Memorial University is currently doing five or six different research projects for us.”
Dr. Lesa Dawson is currently the lead on one of these research projects at Memorial University.
“The goal of the project was to find families that had a lot of breast cancer and other hereditary breast cancer problems, and to see if we could identify any new genes that had never been described before,” said Dawson.
Dawson and her team have 200 families from all over the province who have offered their family history to be analyzed.
“It’s normal for women to worry about breast cancer, because it’s so common,” said Dawson. “The particular things that you look for that make you wonder about a hereditary cause would be young age of breast cancer, bilateral breast cancers or male breast cancer, which is very rare, but can happen.”
Dawson said if families discover those patterns in their history, they should contact her team.
“We find that Newfoundland is a really good place to do this kind of work. There’s big families, we have very good medical records and high-quality cancer specialists,” said Dawson. “In some ways, we can do this work better here than anywhere in the world.”
Dawson said it is fundraisers like the CIBC Run for the Cure that allow such high-quality research to take place.
“Cancer takes a toll on you mentally. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of it,” said Martin. “It’s odd to feel ecstatic to be free of it, but sad to be still in its grip, because the thought of it has never left.
“So, I’m running for my daughter’s future, so she can see the day that cancer doesn’t exist. I hope I’m here to see it, too.”
The St. John’s CIBC Run for the Cure takes place on Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Royal Canadian Legion, at 930 The Boulevard.