KAGAWONG – If there is one word that could describe Mary Buie, it is determined. For example, a cold, wet day this past Sunday could not deter her from taking part in the CIBC Run for the Cure event in Kagawong.
Ms. Buie, several members of her family and a family friend took part in the Run for the Cure event in Kagawong, as part of the Run for the Cure Sudbury site event.
“We are pleased to announce that you (Ms. Buie) have been recognized as the Determination Award winner as one of the top individual fundraisers for the CIBC Run for the Cure in the run site (Sudbury). Congratulations,” wrote Felicia Brunelle, volunteer run director for the CIBC Run for the Cure Sudbury site, in an email to Ms. Buie this past Sunday morning.
“In support of the CIBC Run for the Cure you raised an incredible $1,016 by the deadline of October 2. Thank you,” wrote Ms. Brunelle. She noted, “we’d love to recognize your hard work and dedication by sharing a thank you post to you and the other two top individual fundraisers. We will be making these posts on Facebook after the run today at 2:30 pm.”
Ms. Buie, dressed in pink, walked a five-kilometre route through Kagawong, accompanied by her son Neil and his wife Meghan, their two sons Sebastian and Simon and family friend Marilyn Parks.
“In total I raised $1,200 for the run, thanks to generous donations of members of the community,” Ms. Buie told the Recorder. She explained that her daughter “Jennifer is taking part in a similar run in Calgary with her son Chase, who is eight years old. In Calgary she ran five kilometres in the community and met several other people who were taking part as well. And my grandson Chase was on his bicycle and he had speakers on the bike so she had music to listen to while she was running.”
“With the virtual run taking place all over Canada, opening ceremonies were available online,” said Ms. Buie. “Anyone could tune in to it nationally.”
“And in Calgary for Jen’s run, the weather was really nice while it was cool and wet here,” said Ms. Buie.
She noted through this year’s CIBC Run for the Cure, $8.4 million was raised nationally. And since 1992 $460 million has been raised through the run for breast cancer research.
“The five-year survival rate of those with breast cancer has increased nearly 20 percent since the 1980s,” continued Ms. Buie. She pointed out, “one in eight women in Canada will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.”
Ms. Buie is also a breast cancer survivor. “I have now been eight years free of breast cancer,” she told the Recorder. “I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2012 and had breast cancer surgery. One week after that I took part in my first Run for the Cure event with the Burns Wharf Theatre Players in 2012. This year (2020) marks the first year I did not take part in the event with the Burns Wharf Theatre Players, due to the pandemic.”
“We are so grateful to you and your donors for your passionate commitment to the breast cancer cause,” Ms. Brunelle wrote in her letter to Ms. Buie. “Because of supporters like you, Canadian Cancer Society can invest in the most promising breast cancer research in Canada as well as the country’s leading cancer information and support programs to ensure no one faces breast cancer alone.”
“Thanks for all your fundraising efforts, we look forward to celebrating virtually with you today,” added Ms. Brunelle.
