ZAGREB, February 10, 2019 – A donation of 127,000 kuna (17,000 euro) raised during last year’s Terry Fox Run charity event was formally presented to the Ruđer Bošković Institute’s Laboratory for Hereditary Cancer at a ceremony in Zagreb on Saturday.
The formal presentation of the donation was organised by the Croatian Cancer Society and the Sveti Juraj Association of Cancer Patients as part of events marking the 25th anniversary of the World Day of the Sick.
The donation will be used by the Ruđer Bošković Institute’s Laboratory for Hereditary Cancer for analysis of mutation profiles of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer to help in future therapeutic protocols.
Over 2,500 new cases of breast cancer are registered in Croatia annually, of which 200 are of a hereditary nature.
In the last 19 years, the international charity campaign the Terry Fox Run has attracted over 100,000 participants in Croatia. Last September, over 5,000 citizens joined the event at Zagreb’s Lake Jarun, organisers said, thanking all the people who supported this charity effort with donations or in other ways.
The Terry Fox Run was organised, among others, by the Canadian Embassy in Croatia and the Croatian Cancer Society under the auspices of the President of the Republic, the Ministries of Health and Science, the State Office for Sport, and the Mayor of Zagreb.
This non-competitive event is organised every year in honour of Canadian athlete Terry Fox, who lost a leg to cancer. In order to raise money for treatment, in 1980 he embarked on a run across Canada, which he called the Marathon of Hope. He ran 143 days, covering 42 km a day, but failed to finish the run because the disease came back, claiming his life at 22. In his memory, the Fox family launched a drive to raise money for the fight against cancer, which is held every year in Canada and over 60 countries across the world, including Croatia.
More news on the Ruđer Bošković Institute can be found in the Lifestyle section.
