For Vivian Lui, the annual event is an opportunity to make memories with her family and connect with other people affected by breast cancer
“I just pray that I have more time to see my kids grow up.”
These are the words of Vivian Lui, a mother of two young children who has been living with an advanced form of breast cancer since 2019.
Lui was still breastfeeding her youngest child when she first discovered a lump in her breast in 2016. She was 35 at the time.
An ultrasound eventually revealed that she had stage zero breast cancer, which was cured months later with one surgery, Lui said.
“The surgeon said, ‘you’re good to go.’ ”
Lui’s mother had received the same diagnosis in her early 40s, so Lui expected her cancer journey to be over after the first surgery.
This wasn’t the case. Lui had a recurrence, another stage zero tumour, and once again received the all-clear from her doctor.
But by the end 2018, she felt something was wrong in her body.
“I had a coarse voice. I was slowly gaining weight even though I was keeping up with my exercise routine,” she said.
Lui consulted with three different doctors who all attributed her symptoms to acid reflux and aging.
“I told my husband, ‘I shouldn’t wait for my next checkup . . . something’s not right.‘”
Lui’s instincts turned out to be correct, and scans showed cancer had gone to her liver. She was soon after diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer — an advanced form of the disease that has spread beyond the breast to other places in the body.
With this Stage 4 diagnosis, Lui and her family faced significant uncertainty about how long she might have.
“I didn’t know what the outcome or the prognosis would be, so I just started to do all the research,” she said. “My husband kept pressing (doctors) to ask, ‘How long?’ . . . We stopped asking that, knowing that there’s so many uncertainties.”
She started treatment right away, and her liver was cleared of cancer with eight weeks of chemotherapy and radiation. Months later, her doctors found the cancer had gone to her brain, which required 10 days of brain radiation.
Tens of thousands of Canadians participate
Still in recovery from the treatment, Lui and her family participated in their first CIBC Run for the Cure in October 2019.
The annual run is the largest single-day volunteer-led initiative in support of the breast cancer cause in Canada, taking place in 53 communities across the country. Last year, 50,000 Canadians participated in the event.
For Lui, the annual event is an opportunity to make memories with her family and connect with other people affected by breast cancer.
In recent years, Lui has connected with others who share her diagnosis, a form of cancer she believes many people are not aware of.
“The outcome for us is grim,” she said of people living with metastatic breast cancer.
Lui calls herself “one of the lucky ones” — being alive five years after her diagnosis.
She continues active therapy, which has been effective at helping to manage the disease, she said.
“I feel and look normal . . . people can’t tell that I’m sick anymore,” she said.
“I just pray that I have more time to see my kids grow up.”
Survivor encourages people to advocate for themselves
Carolyn Urquhart has raised more than $25,000 for the 2024 fundraiser, a sum she will likely allocate toward metastatic breast cancer, a form of the disease in need of more funding, she said.
Urquhart has been driven to help people affected by breast cancer since her daughter, Alexandra Wood, was diagnosed with Stage 3 in 2020.
“It was a blow to our family,” Urquhart said of her daughter’s diagnosis, noting the disease does not run in their family.
“The fear that grips you when you’re faced with a cancer diagnosis, it’s tremendous.”
Wood is now considered to have “no evidence of disease” in her body, she said.
Despite the so-called “all clear,” Wood says the disease has “affected everything” in her life.
She is currently pregnant, and describes the challenging experience she and her husband had trying to conceive.
“That was very emotional,” she said of the challenges. “I’ve always wanted to be a mom.”
Wood urges people to advocate for themselves if they feel like something is wrong with their bodies. She described how a doctor dismissed her initial concerns. When doctors did eventually discover she had breast cancer, it was Stage 3, Wood said.
“If the doctor had listened to her right in the beginning, it probably would have been caught earlier,” her mother said.
Wood added: “Young women need to have a voice and speak up for themselves.”
The mother-daughter duo emphasized the effect cancer can have on those close to the person diagnosed.
“It’s like a terror inside that just grabs your heart,” Urquhart said.
“You go about your daily life but there’s always this feeling of fear . . . because you don’t have control.”
Breast cancer research helping save lives
Urquhart and Wood are participating in the run for the first time this year, along with the rest of their family.
According to the Canadian Cancer Society, investments in breast cancer research in Canada have helped cut the death rate nearly in half since 1986, but it continues to be the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the second-leading cause of cancer death among women.
It is estimated that 30,800 people will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2024.
CIBC Run for the Cure is a major contributor to breast cancer research in Canada. Over the past five years, CCS has invested $61.4 million in breast cancer research projects and support programs across the country.
The run supports vital support services such as reliable cancer information, free wigs, rides to treatment, or a place to stay for those who need to travel for treatment, the CCS says.
Lui will be a featured speaker at this year’s event.
“A tremendous amount of progress has been made against breast cancer, but we need more investment to accelerate breakthroughs and provide compassionate, supportive care for people at every stage of their breast cancer experience,” the CCS said in an email.
Registration for the Sunday run starts at 7 a.m. at Southcentre Mall, with the run kicking off at 9:30 a.m. Participants have the option to complete a five-kilometre route, or one kilometre.