Heather Latter
Local resident Aimee Beazley is planning the third-annual “Walk of Hope”—and she is inviting residents to take part in the event for ovarian cancer awareness.
“It’s the largest event of it’s kind in the country,” Beazley noted, adding the walk is staged across the country through Ovarian Cancer Canada.
“The funds provide support, increase awareness, and fund vital research,” she said.
This year’s walk will be held this Sunday (Sept. 13), with registration beginning at 9 a.m.
There will be an opening ceremony at 9:45 a.m., followed by the walk at 10.
Beazley said people can register online. And if they choose to make a donation, they also can do that online by visiting www.ovariancancerwalkofhope.ca
“This year, approximately 2,800 Canadian women will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer and there’s no screening for ovarian cancer,” she noted.
“So because of that, more than half of the women diagnosed with it will die with five years.”
It is a tragedy Beazley has experienced first-hand, having lost her mother, Donna Lee, to ovarian cancer back in 2012.
Lee was diagnosed in October of 2011, and it claimed her life very quickly as she passed away the following August.
“It was very fast,” Beazley recalled, noting people call ovarian cancer the silent killer.
“The reason it goes undiagnosed for so long is because the symptoms are the regular problems that every women has every month,” she explained.
“They feel exactly the same,” she noted. “So it goes so long before anybody even realizes that that is not it, which is scary.
“By the time they get diagnosed, they are usually at stage four.”
In her mom’s memory, Beazley is hoping to make this the best walk yet.
“The previous events we had were good,” she remarked. “We had anywhere between 40 and 50 participants.
“But hopefully there’s more this year.”
Beazley said many people came out because they wanted to support the cause, but also because they knew her mom.
“So it’s kind of a memory walk and this at the same time,” she remarked.
Beazley added this year’s event will be very similar to the past two, with the walk again starting at the Point Park entrance (bottom of the overpass).
Participants will walk or run to the end of the waterfront in front of La Verendrye Hospital and back.
“That’s exactly five kilometres and that’s where the water station will be,” Beazley noted, adding people can register that morning.
“They don’t have to pay to walk but if they want to make a donation, they can,” she said.
“Nobody is obligated to make a donation but if you raise at least $100, you get a T-shirt.”
Beazley said her goal is to raise $1,500.
“It would be nice if there was 80 walkers and it would definitely be nice to reach our goal of $1,500,” she remarked.
“In the past it’s been pretty close to that, so I think we can do it,” she added.
“But it’s not just about the money for me,” Beazley stressed. “It’s more the awareness, and doing it in memory of my mom and her battle.”
She added it’s a fun walk/run—not a race—and people of all ages are encouraged to come out.
Each kilometre will be marked with a large sunflower because sunflowers are the memory flower for ovarian cancer.
And the official colour for ovarian cancer awareness is teal so participants are urged to wear that colour.
There will be light snacks and refreshments afterwards.
Beazley said Ovarian Cancer Canada also will be launching the “biggest, boldest ovarian cancer awareness campaign the country has ever seen” this winter.
As well, it will be beginning a government relations initiative demanding improved treatments and more research funding.
For more information, visit www.ovariancanada.org
