Wednesday, July 11, 2012

A Message Of HOPE...


To present the most precious as a message of HOPE to light the future road ahead” – Frank Chong, Comrades Marathon 2012 runner #57056

Earlier this noon, I “bid farewell” to my Comrades Marathon 2012 Vic Clapham copper medal. Don’t worry, I did not lose it. In fact, it has found a new "home", somewhere where it will serve as a message to the many out there. I donated it to CARIF for a simple yet powerful message of HOPE. 

A simple presentation ceremony was held at CARIF’s main lab at Sime Darby Medical Centre, with the medal encased in a beautiful frame with my finishing photo in it being presented to Professor Dr. Teo Soo Hwang, the Chief Executive Officer of CARIF. Staffs of CARIF and the media was there to witness it. The medal will currently be displayed at CARIF’s main research lab which will then move to Sime Darby Medical Centre's Cancer Centre in the near future.



Yes, the Comrades medal is small, around the size of a Malaysian 50 cents coin. But behind each of it tells a story, whether the medal or the person who attempted to run it. My story is:- I ran and completed it successfully as a survivor of the Rhabdomyosarcoma cancer.

The Comrades Marathon is certainly the toughest run I ever did and of course the medal is a token of achievement and something to be treasured of. However, as I ran the Comrades Marathon 2012 as part of a cause to raise awareness and funds for cancer research in aid of CARIF, and if this small little medal can deliver a powerful message to the many people out there whether those affected with cancer or not, I will be glad to “share” with them. And by “sharing”, I bear the message saying that what a normal person can do, a cancer survivor can do too, if not sometimes even better.

"HOPE LIVES HERE" in CARIF, a tagline that came about for their recent 10th anniversary celebration. However, much support is still needed to bring the fight against cancer to another level. I’m uniting my passion of running and a role as a cancer survivor in doing a part for this, and I hope it will be a small step towards many brighter things to come. Support  CARIF, support cancer research.

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