There are so many families in your province that have been affected by cancer. It might be your neighbours, it might be your friends, or it might be your family. Fortunately, they have people like you who are willing to step up and raise vital funds to help them in their time of need.
Challenge for Life 2.0 is on June 9, where you can Walk It for 20K or Work It for 200 minutes. All the funds raised will stay right here in Manitoba to support world-class research, treatment and patient support at CancerCare Manitoba.
CTV Morning Live stopped by to meet some of the people who have been touched by cancer and will be participating in this year’s Challenge. First up was Troy Woods:
He shared his experience being diagnosed with cancer as a teenager. It was earth-shattering, he says. We all know teenagers and how difficult it is for them as they slowly become adults. Can you imagine how much harder that would be, while also being treated for cancer? He endured over three years of treatments and just recently celebrated an amazing milestone – being cancer-free for five years.
Troy Worked It for 200 minutes at last year’s Challenge for Life, to raise money for other Manitobans who will be diagnosed with cancer at some point in their lives.
“There’s still so much work that needs to be done and so many dollars that need to be raised to support all different types of cancer,” Troy said.
He’ll be back again this year to raise even more.
Teresa Wiebe also stopped by to speak with CTV.
She spoke about how almost three years ago her husband Rob was diagnosed with lung cancer. The cancer was very aggressive. He died three months later. Teresa said CancerCare Manitoba was there for her and her family. They used the counseling and support services available to them.
Teresa will be participating in Challenge for Life for the third year in a row. She’s raising funds for families like hers. Families that weren’t yet directly affected by cancer, until one day… they were. “Our main goal is to help others so they won’t have to go through what we did,” she says.
There was also Roberta Barr who told CTV about her father.
Roberta lost her father to cancer 12 years ago. He had been diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer. It would be another four years until he died from the disease. Some times of the year can be tough without her father, but the moral support she gets at Challenge for Life helps her a lot. Seeing others who are cancer survivors, or who are going through treatment inspires her. She’ll be Walking It for the fourth year, and hopes to see the money she raises go to clinical trials.
“I definitely hope more of our money goes to that and also helping the families,” she says. “Going through this can be tough. It can be strenuous on family members.”
Challenge for Life 2.0 is coming up soon. Almost 1,000 Challengers will lace up their shoes for the 11th anniversary on June 9! It’s time to Walk It for 20K or Work It for 200 minutes.
You can make a difference!! REGISTER or DONATE to Challenge for Life 2.0 NOW.
For the rest of the CTV interviews with Annitta Stenning, CancerCare Manitoba Foundation president & CEO and Dr. Sri Navaratnam, CancerCare Manitoba president & CEO , go here: https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1373564&binId=1.1206882&playlistPageNum=1
And here:
https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1373578&binId=1.1206882&playlistPageNum=1
