McMaster gears up for Terry Fox Run

[img_inline align=”right” src=”http://padnws01.mcmaster.ca/images/Runners edited.jpg” caption=”Last year’s Terry Fox Run at McMaster raised $31,000. Photo by Dr. Jeffrey Sher.”]Great strides have been made in the race against cancer, but there are still many more steps that need to be taken. This Sunday, Sept. 17, thousands of people across Canada will participate in the Terry Fox Run to raise awareness and funding for cancer research.

McMaster has been hosting the Terry Fox Run since 1984. Last year, more than 550 people took part in the event, raising $31,000.

The nationwide event honours Terry Fox, who captured the hearts and minds of Canadians when he attempted to run across Canada after losing his leg to osteogenic sarcoma, a rare bone cancer.

Fox began the Marathon of Hope in St. Johns, Nfld., on April 12, 1980. By Sept. 1, 1980, the cancer had spread to his lungs, forcing him to end his marathon after running 5,374 km over 143 days. Fox died on June 28, 1981, one month before his 23rd birthday. Since his death, more than $400 million has been raised for cancer research through the Terry Fox Run.

For Dr. Jeffrey Sher, coordinator and leader of the McMaster University Staff and Students team, the Terry Fox Run holds a special place in his heart.

“I had the opportunity to see Terry Fox as his entourage travelled along University Avenue in downtown Toronto on July 11, 1980,” said Sher. “That was an inspiring, almost magical moment, seeing Terry's face and the courage and conviction he expressed. I've supported the Marathon of Hope ever since.”

Sher, a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Surgery at McMaster and Chief of the Department of Eye Medicine and Surgery at Hamilton Health Sciences, encourages McMaster faculty, staff and students to participate in this year's event to help fund research that could lead to better treatments, and possibly a cure for cancer. McMaster is one of many universities across Canada that is conducting cancer research.

“As an academic research center, McMaster University is on the front lines of this battle,” said Sher. “Our researchers have great ideas, but they need the tools to find a cure, and we can help them.”

One of those researchers is Dr. Michelle Ghert, an orthopedic surgeon and bone cancer researcher at the Juravinski Cancer Centre.

“I am working with a team of scientists who are collaborating together to study the molecular mechanisms through which cancer cells degrade bone and invade the bloodstream to metastasize,” Ghert explained.

Breast, lung and prostate cancer can spread to the bone, where they cause excruciating pain and fractures, she said. Bone tumours, such as osteosarcoma, originate in the bone.

“We are studying these tumours to find out not just why they destroy bone, but also how they get into the bloodstream and spread to the lungs, which is the ultimate cause of death in this type of cancer,” Ghert explained.

Cancer research is a team effort. Ghert works with a group of researchers that includes molecular and cell biologists, surgeons, medical oncologists, pathologists, chemists, physicists and biostatisticians.

The high cost of cancer research and the large number of scientists involved makes funding so important to researchers like Ghert. The Terry Fox Foundation supports the National Cancer Institute of Cananda, which provides grants to cancer researchers.

“The Terry Fox Run is an opportunity for Canadians across the country to give scientists like ourselves the chance to really make a difference in the outcomes of patients with bone cancer,” said Ghert.
“And they can have fun and stay fit at the same time.”

Although much progress has been made in cancer research, there's still a long way to go.

Advancements in chemotherapy have increased the five-year survival rates for patients with osteosarcoma from 10 per cent to 70 per cent, said Ghert. In addition, fewer limb amputations are performed due to improved imaging and treatment.

“Advances in radiological imaging such as MRI, and advances in limb reconstruction such as bone grafts, prosthetic implants and vascular reconstruction, have allowed the orthopaedic oncology surgeon to save the limb in over 90 per cent of cases,” said Ghert.

Despite its ability to save lives, chemotherapy still takes a huge toll on cancer patients, especially children. Since chemotherapy attacks rapidly dividing cells, it not only affects cancer cells, but hair follicle cells, the gastrointestinal tract and bone marrow are also affected, Ghert explained

“That is why so many children on chemotherapy get sick and some suffer life-threatening complications,” she said. “Our team research is aimed at developing more targeted therapy so that there are less side-effects while more cancer cells are killed.”

For more information about the Terry Fox Run, including how to register or donate on-line, please visit www.terryfoxrun.org. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m., and the run starts at 1 p.m. at the McMaster University Student Centre.