18-05-2025
Portland ‘buddy run' raises hope for children battling cancer
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Sam Day Foundation held a 'buddy run' in Portland Saturday morning in an effort to raise money to help children undergoing cancer treatment.
Twenty runners gathered at Doernbecher Children's Hospital, embarking on a 12-mile run that ended at Terra Linda School in Beaverton.
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Runners were paired with buddies that are fighting cancer, but there were also a handful of others running in memory of a child lost to cancer.
'I've grown up around a few different people that have gone and battled toe-to-toe with pediatric cancer,' said runner Ian Cruickshank. 'It's always been a passion. You don't go and do this, all the fundraising, if you're not passionate about it.'
The Sam Day foundation is a nonprofit founded by Portland Police Chief Bob Day and his wife Lorna. Both lost their son Sam back in 2016 to a rare form of bone cancer.
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'When families know that someone is working on the research, they have hope,' said Lorna 'And every day you have hope is 100 times more tolerable than a day without hope for a kid with cancer. That's what we needed when Sam was alive and that's what we're trying to give to other families.'
Organizers said they hope to raise close to $90,000 at the end of the run, but they encourage donations at any time.
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