By IANS,
New Delhi : Come Sunday and Delhi will see a chunk of its youngsters come together and- instead of hanging around in a mall or cineplex- run for the cause of cancer.
The annual Terry Fox Run, to be held for the 23rd time in Delhi – they didn’t organize one last year- is being eagerly looked forward to by school and college students to raise funds for cancer research here.
Terry Fox was a Canadian who, after being detected with cancer and having to amputee his cancerous legs, ran the ‘Marathon of Hope’ across the country in 1980. Although he couldn’t complete his run, because the cancer had started spreading to his lungs, this 22-year old’s fierce determination prompted the organizing of this run in order to raise money for cancer research.
Narendra Bhardwaj of the Indo-Canadian Cancer Research Foundation, which organizes the run here, said that they expect more than 1,500 students to participate in the 3.5 km run which will start in Connaught Place.
“Terry was a young man of 22 when all this happened to him and he really wanted that a cure for cancer should be found. Therefore instead of targeting corporates, we target young kids so that they feel for the cause,” Bhardwaj told IANS.
“There is no fixed amount of money that we say one should donate. It could be Re.1 to anything. Last time that we organized the run here, in 2006, we raised Rs.900,00 and all of that went to the Rotary Cancer Hospital at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS),” he said.
The run, which is an international event and is run Sep 14, is run in two other places in India besides Delhi – Mumbai and Bangalore. The Mumbai run has however already been run April this year.
Globally, the run is organized in 31 countries, besides Canada.
“One may ask why raise funds for cancer research and not treatment, which is an expensive affair. What we say is that research may not give immediate benefit but its efficiency will increase in the future.
“Another good thing about the fund raiser is that the fund remains in the place where it is being raised,” Bhardwaj added.
The run this year will flagged off by the chief minister of Delhi, Sheila Dikshit. A number of students from schools and colleges, like the Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), Convent of Jesus and Mary and Miranda House will volunteer, besides participate, in the run.