More than 2,100 people gathered Sunday at Maisonneuve Park for the CIBC Run for the Cure in Montreal, to raise funds for breast cancer research.
“I am here to show people that the period after cancer is as difficult, and even more difficult, than during it,” confides Mélina Poirier, with her young son in her arms. She was diagnosed with breast cancer at 22 weeks pregnant. “It was detected to be an aggressive cancer and I underwent chemotherapy during my pregnancy. »
At the end of her treatments, Mélina Poirier hit a wall. “During treatments, you have adrenaline, you want to survive. Afterwards, psychosocial support is left a little aside. Since we are healed, we are left to our own devices. »
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Mélina Poirier
She no longer recognized herself. “On a physical level, you will never go back to the way you were before. You don’t feel understood, you feel all alone,” she says. She realized that talking about her diagnosis and her experience with cancer did her a lot of good.
More than half a million raised
Mélina Poirier, who has been in remission for three years, now organizes discussion groups and retreats so that people suffering from cancer or illness can find each other. She shared her story on Sunday in front of 2,100 people gathered at Maisonneuve Park for the CIBC Run for the Cure, which took place simultaneously in 53 cities across Canada.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
In total, $656,317 for the Canadian Cancer Society and cancer research.
Participants in the Montreal race were invited to run one or five kilometers. For the occasion, they raised $656,317 for the Canadian Cancer Society and cancer research, says Cérine Beldjoudi, member of the event organizing committee.
One of the participants, Yan Trudeau, ran on Sunday “for his love”, Mélanie Courcelles. “My wife died a month ago from breast cancer. She fought for five years,” he says. He had not planned to participate in the event. “It was decided yesterday. » He ran alongside his wife’s friend.