A 25 kilometre charity walk through some of Calgary’s inner-city communities helped raise more than $900,000 for the Alberta Cancer Foundation to be used for cancer research and patient support.
“This is one of our signature events,” said Theresa Radwell, Alberta Cancer Foundation spokesperson. “It’s a real major fundraiser for us but, equally, it’s raising the awareness of cancer and the importance of raising money to fund research, prevention and screening and enhancing care in the cancer centres that we support.”
More than 400 people participated in Saturday’s OneWalk to Conquer Cancer event including members of corporate and community teams. Each participant selected which cancer fund their collected donations would support.
The 13 members of 'Jan’s Journey', including the team’s namesake, elected to raise money for lung cancer research following a devastating diagnosis earlier this year.
“I was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in the beginning of February,” explained Janice Tomecek. “My sister got a group together and decided to walk in the OneWalk and raise funds for the most underfunded cancer of all and also the deadliest.”
Sheila Leroux, Tomecek’s sister, says support for their fundraising effort has been outstanding. “All of her family is walking and her friends,” said Leroux. “We’re the number one team. We’ve raised over $45 grand.”
“People were very, very generous.”
Saturday’s event was the second running of the OneWalk to Conquer Cancer in Calgary. Nearly $1 million was raised during the 2016 walk.
For more information on the fundraiser and the Alberta Cancer Foundation, visit OneWalk to Conquer Cancer
