Running for a Reason
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
By: Laurel Kirchner

As a runner who has had many close family members experience cancer, I love the idea of running to raise money to support such an important cause.

As many of you know, I love to run!

This opportunity to run in the Relay For Life, while raising money for the Canadian Cancer Society is a great fit for me as I have had many close family members experience cancer, some as survivors and some that were not so fortunate.

My dad's dad passed away due to a form of Hodgkin's Disease when I was still a baby. It is sad to know that had the today's cancer-related technologies been around then, I might have had the opportunity to get to know him as I did my other grandparents. Two of my other grandparents lived through stomach cancer. The return of the cancer caused the eventual death of my maternal grandfather. While my paternal grandmother was a survivor of not only the stomach cancer, but also of breast cancer and skin cancer.

As a child I remember seeing my grandmother's breast prosthesis hanging with her bathing suit at the cottage. I realize now, what a gift it was to have her as part of my life for so many years following her experience with breast cancer. Not all are so fortunate.

More recently, my husband Jody, was treated for melanoma. He had a mole on his back that looked like pictures of the moles I would see on the skin cancer prevention bookmarks. Upon my urging, he finally had the mole checked. It was removed within days of the diagnosis, but we waited a long four weeks for the final results to arrive indicating that the mole had not metastasized and that he was cancer-free.

I am thankful for the prevention strategies that are available to us as well as the rapidly advancing technology and research surrounding cancer diagnosis and treatment. For this reason I am more than willing to spend a night of my life "running for the cause" as some day the results of this run might mean the life of one of my loved ones or someone else's loved ones may be sustained.

Thank you for your support.