More than 24,000 people take part in the 22nd Terry Fox Run (TFR) in Ho Chi Minh City on November 18 to raise funds for cancer patients in Vietnam. (Photo: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – More than 24,000 people took part in the22nd Terry Fox Run (TFR) in District 7, Ho Chi Minh City on November18 to raise funds for cancer patients in Vietnam.
The 5-km run was held by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in HCM City.
In his opening remarks, TFR Vietnam Co-chair Kelly Wong said founded inCanada, the Terry Fox Run has been organised in more than 60 countries aroundthe world. It is a non-competitive community sport event so all individuals,families and groups are welcomed to join by walking, running or cycling, hesaid.
“I see many people suffering different types of cancer in Vietnam andthe TFR Vietnam is an important event to support research and treatment of thedisease," said one of the runners, Nguyen Thi Lien from Thu Duc district.
She said she hopes that the money collected will be used to help cancerpatients and improve medical facilities for hospitals to deliver betterservices.
This year’s TFR raised nearly 3 billion VND (130,000 VND) in fundingfor an international pediatric oncology hematology programme in Vietnam.
The programme supportsthe children’s hospital system throughout the country via the HCM CityUniversity of Medicine and Pharmacy and international experts, and theiruniversity hospitals. It also aims to establish clinical and researchcapability within the Vietnam system for children with cancer.
Cancer is one of the most common diseases in Vietnam, with an increasingnumber of young patients, including children. Vietnam each year detects more than 126,000 cancer cases, and sees94,000 deaths from the disease, according to the Ministry of Health.
Last year, TFR Vietnam was again thebiggest international TFR in the world, attracting more than 22,000participants and raising over 2.6 billion VND (112,000 USD).
It is a day of celebrating Terry’s legacy andhelping to keep alive his dream of finding a cure for cancer. Todate, over 750 million USD has been raised worldwide for cancer research inTerry’s name.
Terry Fox grew up nearVancouver, British Columbia. As an active teenager involved in many sports,Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bonecancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15cm above the knee in1977.
While in hospital, Terrywas so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients, many of themchildren, that he decided to run across Canada from coast to coast to raisemoney for cancer research.
He called his journey theMarathon of Hope. Terry Fox ran almost 42km a day through eastern Canada,Quebec and Ontario.
However, after 143 daysand 5,373km, Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontariobecause his cancer had returned. He passed away in 1981 at the age of 22. –VNA
VNA
