A FEW blisters and the odd aching muscle is a small price to pay to help prevent cancer and treat women suffering from it.
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It was that thought that kept Griffith’s Donna Ryan and her daughter Kaitlin going when they took part in the 60km Weekend to End Women’s Cancers walk recently.
The event attracted 1401 walkers, who helped raise more than $3.6 million for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
Funds raised support life-saving cancer research and the best in clinical care to improve cancer prevention and detection, and find more targeted and personalised treatments for women with cancer.
Initially Donna’s other daughter Natasha had planned to do the walk, but had to pull out at the last minute.
“Natasha found out she was pregnant, then she got tonsillitis and glandular fever so in the end Kaitlin stepped in for her,” Donna said.
“Natasha was disappointed, but she is keen to do it sometime in the future.
“It was gruelling. We were very sore by the end, but it was a great feeling to finish it.”
With the help of the Griffith community they raised more than $7000 for the cause.
The walk took 13 hours over two days to complete, with participants able to camp overnight.
“We want to say a massive thanks to everyone in Griffith who donated or supported us in any way,” Donna said.
“We didn’t expect to raise that much. It’s nice to be able to help out such a worthy cause.
“Part of the walk went past the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and it was amazing to see all of the people standing there with signs and balloons. They made us more determined to keep going.
“The camaraderie from all of the walkers was so nice. It’s an experience I’ll never forget.”