Finding Hope Blog – The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation

Meet the Hughes Hugs Team. They’ll be running for Nana Hughes on October 3 at the

Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure.

Every spring, the community gathers in Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia to celebrate the Apple Blossom Festival. Some 80,000 people from the surrounding communities attend the Apple Blossom Festival Parade, and Tim Hughes hosts a delicious and delightful family brunch at his home, right along the parade route.

In 2003, their family tradition became the kick-off fundraiser for the Hughes Hugs Team participation in  the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure. Every year their Party for a Cure draws enthusiastic support from their neighbours, community and the entire region. This year, the Party for the Cure set a new record by raising $2,086 and demonstrated that turning an existing party into a fundraiser can be both fun and successful.

The Hughes Hugs Team is running for Tim’s mother, Nancy, who has been living with breast cancer for 10 years. Nancy vividly remembers her own mother’s pain and scarring from a mastectomy in the 1960s. Today, the Hughes Hugs Team has 14 members, but there are countless nieces, nephews, cousins and good friends who provide encouragement and help raise funds from local businesses, churches as well as their friends and neighbours.

Tim is a fitness instructor and he is inspired to see Canadians of all ages and abilities – even those who may not be as physically active as he is – participate in the Run. And it reminds him that anyone can develop cancer at any time, and they will need the kind of strength and endurance that he admires in his mother in order to survive. Tim is insistent: “I want results. I want a cure”.

Nancy lives with restricted mobility now, but promises to be at the finish line on the day of the Run, right where she has been every year that the Hughes Hugs have participated, to show her support and appreciation. And after the Run, the Hughes Hugs team and their families go back to Tim’s home and enjoy another wonderful family brunch.

On October 3, 2010, who are you running for?™

Breast cancer survivor and Run for the Cure participant Lana Waters tells us how surviving breast cancer gave her the strength and inspiration to follow all of her dreams.

Ten years ago, my life changed with news that cancer was in my body.  While I handed my physical self over to doctors who removed a breast lump and lymph nodes then filled me with Chemotherapy and Radiation, I held my emotional self dear and grew into who I really wanted to be.

Cancer taught me how important it is to just be myself and once treatment was behind me, I took my chance in life and followed a dream.  I went into a field of work that I love and made a success of myself while collecting top awards along the way.

The success came while I grew fuller, stronger ties to my family and friends and the man of my dreams came into my life just a year ago.

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We’d like you to meet one of the Teams participating at the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure.  Not only are they all dragon boat racers, each of these extraordinary women is a breast cancer survivor.

Teamwork. Synchronization. Endurance. Critical elements in dragon boat racing. And it is this same spirit that guides the Breast Friends Dragon Boat Racing Team in their dedication to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure.

Formed 12 years ago in Edmonton by 25 breast cancer survivors, they are a team of courageous women with vision, energy and commitment who have raised over $10,000 each year since they started participating in the Run, this has earned them the Highest Women’s Team honours.

It was once thought that upper body exercise, including dragon boat racing, could cause breast cancer survivors to develop lymphedema, a painful and chronic swelling of the arm. Led by a sports medicine doctor, a pioneering group of survivors established the very first survivor dragon boat racing team, Vancouver’s Abreast in a Boat, who challenged this belief and proved that life after breast cancer can be as active and vigorous as you want it to be.

Inspired by this story, the Breast Friends Dragon Boat Racing Team was formed.

As survivors, they participate in the Run to collectively promote their mission of hope and awareness for a full, active life after a diagnosis of breast cancer. Their passion for dragon boat racing, and their commitment to the Run have given them increased physical health, friendship, support and empowerment.

The Breast Friends Dragon Boat Racing Team collaborate with other sister survivor teams across the country and use email to connect with each other and with their own personal networks to raise funds and awareness of their participation in the Run.

And, as they say, there’s always room in the boat for new members!

Join the Breast Friends Dragon Boat Racing Team at the Run for the Cure on October 3.  Together we can create a future without breast cancer.

We’re checking in with Melanya, a Team Captain featured in our Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure video.

I was a presenter at the annual Ontario Public Service (OPS) Women of Influence and Inspiration Seminar in Toronto.  My role was to motivate and energize the 300 female provincial government employees in attendance. I provided options for people of different abilities so that everyone could participate in a brief stretch session set to women’s music.

I wore a pink shirt provided by the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation and had my Run for the Cure bib of who I was running for: Kathleen and Cecile. In 2009, I was team captain for a new GoodLife/OPS team of 29 “GoodLife OPS Mod Squad” that raised $2297. I wanted to promote the run/walk to the female audience. Many people came up to me afterwards to ask about the bib and Run for the Cure and Pink Ribbon sponges were given to all participants.

Months later a co-worker of mine asked if he could join our team this year. He told me a heartfelt story of how he just found out that his colleague has breast cancer and is undergoing surgery within a week. He shared to her how he was going to run for her and she was touched by his kindness.

Join Melanya at the Run for the Cure on October 3. Let’s create a future without breast cancer.

Meet the Queen’s University Rugby Team for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure!

Winning 11 championship titles requires unity and determination. And so does raising over $100,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure. These are both remarkable accomplishments of the Queen’s University Rugby Team.

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