CHARITY PROGRAM: Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
More than $14.5 million dollars has been raised for charities at the BMO Vancouver Marathon through the non-profit Vancouver International Marathon Society’s Run4Hope program.
Garrick Tom’s Story:
My name is Garrick Tom and I was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia just under a year ago. This past year has been about educating myself regarding CML and learning to live a better, healthier life. That journey has led me to the BMO Vancouver Marathon.
In July 2015, I had just gotten back from a vacation with my wife and 20-month old son when she reminded me that I was due for my annual physical. I went for a routine blood test and my doctor called me the next day wanting to speak with me immediately. But I didn’t think anything of it and thought to call him back the next day. However, he called again the next morning saying that my test results were abnormal and he’d booked me in to see a hematologist for the following day. Despite the urgency with which he was handling this, I still didn’t think anything of it. Within two weeks of getting home from my trip, I was diagnosed with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia. Before this, I didn’t even know what leukemia was.
During my initial meeting with the hematologist, he told me that he suspected I had some form of chronic leukemia and would need to go for more tests. It still didn’t sink in completely. I went back to work and called my wife to tell her what the doctor had said, in the same voice and tone I would use to tell her I had the flu. Once I got to work, I started Googling and realised that what I potentially had was actually quite serious. The diagnosis was confirmed the following week and I began treatments.
I can say now, truthfully, that I did not handle it well mentally. I continued working, not really knowing what to do with myself. I continued to live my life and pushed myself as if my newly diagnosed condition wasn’t affecting me at all. I had always been athletic and fit and could not accept that my body was not handling this new transition well. In reality, it was not. I was exhausted, short-tempered and eventually, I burnt out completely. I decided to listen to all the good advice around me — from my family, friends, and doctors — and decided that I needed to take some time off. I spent last fall taking time for myself, adjusting to my new medication, venturing into exercising again, and learning my new limits (and new possibilities).
Why did I decide to run the BMO Vancouver Marathon now, when the longest I had ever run previously was 10km? Firstly, I felt I needed a goal to work towards in order to not backslide in my fitness regime. Becoming fitter has helped to minimize the side effects of my medication and I feel better than I have in years. I thought if I set a stretch goal, doing something that I had never done before, it would motivate me like nothing else could. This is my first marathon and I am not expecting it to be pretty; but I am expecting this to be the first of many. Secondly, being told I have leukemia was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to grapple with mentally and training has helped me overcome these mental obstacles. I was upset with my body for trying to kill itself and now I feel as if I’ve turned that negative into a positive and am really pushing myself to see what else my body is really capable of — like running from one end of the city and back. I feel miles away from that dark place I was in, in summer 2015.
In a way, I am actually incredibly lucky. My treatment is just a single pill I take daily. After learning about Team in Training, I like to think that my relatively simple treatment was made possible because somebody decided to do some fundraising by going for a run. I figured that the least I could do was return the favour and run the BMO Vancouver Marathon while fundraising so that hopefully, one day, treatment for all cancers could be as simple as a single pill.
Join Garrick and RUN4HOPE in the 2017 BMO Vancouver Marathon!