The Terry Fox Run is this weekend: Here’s how it helps fight cancer in Manitoba

Terry Fox Run U of M associate professor Dr. Sachin Katyal stops by to talk about Sunday’s Terry Fox Run taking place in 30 communities around Manitoba.

This weekend, Winnipeggers and people from across Canada will lace up their shoes just as Terry Fox did 44 years ago during his Marathon of Hope.

The Terry Fox Run takes place Sept. 15. It is a late-summertime Canadian staple which has raised millions of dollars for cancer research over the past several decades. Contributions from Canadians have led to innovations in care and collaborations among scientists working to find a cure for the disease.

Money raised through the run helps drive research forward, said Sachin Katyal, a senior scientist at CancerCare Manitoba and an associate professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the University of Manitoba.

He said one of the gaps in cancer care, even still, is research funding which the Terry Fox Foundation helps close.

“The latest and greatest is very expensive,” he said Thursday morning on CTV Morning Live.

He also said that the run’s research funding program helps close another gap – the inability of labs to work together and share ideas.

“Now we are able to do that through the Marathon of Hope,” he said. “That funding research program has brought all Canadian researchers together where we can share ideas and collaborate and come up with new ideas, new paths to help people with cancer.”

Katyal said cancer research has come a long way since Terry’s first run across Canada, and it is now in the precision oncology era.

“It's very exciting. We are now at a state where some of the newest findings can now be applied directly to our patients,” he said.

He said his belief is research is care.

“We are at a point where we can bridge researchers and clinicians and bring the latest and greatest to Manitobans in terms of cancer research, cancer treatments, and a new hope for these patients going forward.”

The run will start at Assiniboine Park near the pavilion parking lot at 10 a.m.

Along the 2.5-kilometre route, there will be a water station where participants can give the bust of Terry Fox a toast.

The fundraising goal for the local run is $65,000.