Teatotalers at Sunday’s CIBC Run for the Cure Survivors Tea will soon be flexing their muscles at the 10th annual run on Oct. 3.
Make no mistake — they battle to win.
But the way each person copes with the diagnosis of breast cancer can be different.
“I like to have all the information. I want people to be blunt.
“When I ask a question, I want the real answer. I don’t want it sugar-coated,” said Lois Moreau, co-director of the Red Deer run, who was a speaker at the tea at the Capri Hotel and Convention Centre.
“Others want to be told what to do. I think that’s how they cope with it, and I felt knowledge was power.”
In December 2006 at age 46, Moreau underwent surgery for invasive breast cancer. By June 2007 she had finished six weeks of chemotherapy. Three weeks ago, she cleared her final six-month checkup.
Moreau’s search for answers during her recovery led her to the Canadian Cancer Society program CancerConnection that links cancer patients by phone with people who have had a similar kind of cancer.
But Moreau said she didn’t get the local information she wanted.
“When I was going through it there was nobody in Red Deer to talk to.
“I ended up talking to someone in Ontario and another person in B.C. so it just wasn’t really relative because the treatment is different.”
So in April, Moreau went through training to become a CancerConnection volunteer. So far, she’s had one request from a cancer patient who was in Ontario so she’s spreading the word in Red Deer.
“It may inspire some people to pass the information along or take advantage of it themselves.”
Next month’s the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure will be a first for Moreau.
Her team has already raised over $2,000.
In 2009, over 1,000 participants in the Red Deer run raised over $186,000 for breast cancer research and awareness.
Sept. 13 to 17 was proclaimed Think Pink Week in Red Deer and the Pink Martini Mingle at the Toad ‘n’ Turtle on Thursday will raise $2 for the Red Deer run for every pink martini sold. Doors open at 5 p.m.
For more information on the run go to www.runforthecure.com
For CancerConnection peer support program call 1-800-263-6750.
szielinski@www.reddeeradvocate.com