THUNDER BAY -- Two years ago, Patricia Prince was diagnosed with Level 3 breast cancer. She underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment, then a mastectomy. She's had a good run in recovery and she credits her running for beating the disease.
"I had everything they could throw at me. Exercise was the best thing for it," she said.
"If it wasn't for the Run For The Cure, I wouldn't be running today. The breast cancer support group in Thunder Bay has been very supportive, giving me the opportunity to be a speaker today."
At the end of Sunday's five-kilometre Run For The Cure run that began and ended at the Legion Track, Prince said she was so exhilarated that she could have run five more.
Prince joined 525 other runners wearing pink through the bicycle paths of Fort William as they raised money to fight breast cancer.
Thunder Bay's local Run For The Cure typically raises between $70,000 and $120,000 every year and the pink branding of has made the CIBC-sponsored event among Canada's most successful fundraising campaigns.
Run director Bonnie Tittaferrante said with the Neon Lights run on Saturday night and the Terry Fox Runs over the last few weeks, the public consciousness around exercise combatting cancer isn't just growing, it's getting organized and that's good for the cause.
"There were a lot of new events going on so it's all still going to the same cause, just new events so it spreads it out a little bit," she said.
"We try to provide new incentives for new fundraising and we try to reset up differently every year and create that pink awareness. It seems to just flow on itself. For whatever reason, everybody just supports this event. It's great."
