For runner Allan Malcolm, facing cancer is a lot like running a race.
“It’s all about wanting to persevere and beat it,” Malcolm said before he set out on a 5K run during the Running From Cancer event Sunday.
“Cancer is a lot like running. It takes a lot of endurance and a lot of times you want to quit,” he said.
Malcolm was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2011 and after about a year of treatment, he went into remission for four months. But then he was diagnosed with a treatment-related type of leukemia. While he is currently in remission from the leukemia, he is dealing with another type of blood disease he called myelodysplasia and awaiting a bone marrow transplant to treat it.
Sunday’s Running From Cancer race is the first run he’s done in two years. This is the third Running From Cancer race he’s participated in and said the event is his favourite because it funds local programs and services that have helped him survive cancer twice.
He said while the name of the event is Running From Cancer, the disease is something you deal with head-on.
“I don’t think I could speak for everybody with cancer, but you don’t really run in fear from it, you want to go and run it down,” said Malcolm.
Held at Tecumseh Arena, the eighth annual Running From Cancer event attracted about 600 runners who participated in either the half marathon, 5K, 10K, or two runs for kids – the 1K and the Disney Dash.
Proceeds of the event go the Windsor Regional Cancer Centre and the Windsor Regional Hospital inpatient oncology unit.
Runners participate in one of the runs during the eighth annual Running From Cancer held at Tecumseh Arena on Sunday, July 28, 2013. (REBECCA WRIGHT/ The Windsor Star)
Runners participate in one of the runs during the eighth annual Running From Cancer held at Tecumseh Arena on Sunday, July 28, 2013. (REBECCA WRIGHT/ The Windsor Star)
Runners participate in one of the runs during the eighth annual Running From Cancer held at Tecumseh Arena on Sunday, July 28, 2013. (REBECCA WRIGHT/ The Windsor Star)
Runners participate in one of the runs during the eighth annual Running From Cancer held at Tecumseh Arena on Sunday, July 28, 2013. (REBECCA WRIGHT/ The Windsor Star)
Runners participate in one of the runs during the eighth annual Running From Cancer held at Tecumseh Arena on Sunday, July 28, 2013. (REBECCA WRIGHT/ The Windsor Star)
A young runner participates in one of the runs during the eighth annual Running From Cancer held at Tecumseh Arena on Sunday, July 28, 2013. (REBECCA WRIGHT/ The Windsor Star)
A young runner participates in one of the runs during the eighth annual Running From Cancer held at Tecumseh Arena on Sunday, July 28, 2013. (REBECCA WRIGHT/ The Windsor Star)
Young runners participate in one of the runs during the eighth annual Running From Cancer held at Tecumseh Arena on Sunday, July 28, 2013. (REBECCA WRIGHT/ The Windsor Star)
Runners dressed as Disney characters participate in one of the runs during the eighth annual Running From Cancer held at Tecumseh Arena on Sunday, July 28, 2013. (REBECCA WRIGHT/ The Windsor Star)
A young runner participates in one of the runs during the eighth annual Running From Cancer held at Tecumseh Arena on Sunday, July 28, 2013. (REBECCA WRIGHT/ The Windsor Star)
Runners dressed as Disney characters participate in one of the runs during the eighth annual Running From Cancer held at Tecumseh Arena on Sunday, July 28, 2013. (REBECCA WRIGHT/ The Windsor Star)
