Sarah’s fund for Cedars’ main annual fundraiser is the Stroll & Dash event, formerly known as Splash & Dash, and is in its 23rd year. It was held at Danyluk Park in the Town of Mount Royal on Sunday.
There are 10,000 Canadian children living with cancer and 1,500 more are diagnosed each year, according to Canada’s health minister.
“The funds raised today are supporting the hope program at the Montreal Children’s,” said Jeff Shamie, president and CEO of the Cedars Cancer Foundation. “That’s psychosocial oncology support for cancer patients and their families and that at the essence of what we do… the soul of who we are at Sarah’s Fund at Cedars.”
“When you’re on the [hospital] floor, there’s so many rules,” said Connie Richards, Unit coordinator of Sarah’s floor Hematology, Oncology, Transplant Unit of the Montreal Children’s Hospital.
“But when [at the Stroll and Dash], there’s no rules… We can have hot dogs, we can have tzatziki, we can have french fries, you can’t get that in the hospital. There’s candy, we don’t encourage that in the hospital. The whole family’s here because when you’re on the floor, you’re limited, only three people can come visit you,” said Richards.
The heroes of the event, young cancer patients, participated in a race around the track with hundreds of people cheering them on. They were supported by family and Montreal Alouettes players.
“[Montreal] has our back so we have their back with great causes like this,” said Derek Wiggan, Defensive lineman for the Montreal Alouettes. “We’re more than guys wearing helmets, we’re here to be involved in the community.”
“We just want to say we’re so grateful and thank you so much for throwing this event because for families like us, it really truly means the world,” said Vanessa Pertugia, parent of young cancer survivor, Naila Magloire.
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