Over the next few weeks people will gather in communities across the country for the annual Light the Night Walk to help end blood cancer.
Peri Maric and his three-year-old daughter Sasha will be back for a second year, but without one very key person, Marci.
The 38-year-old wife and mother passed away in April after a battle against Leukemia.
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“She’d want us to keep going,” said Peri, cuddled on a sofa with Sasha.
“What scared her (Marci) the most was not being here for Sash. So if we can help one family.”
Last year there were 200 people walking on Marci’s team in the fundraising event. They raised $70,000, the highest amount in the province for Light the Night.
“Seeing that many people wanting to physically be there to show support for Marci was amazing,” said Peri.
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Sasha, who was just two years old at the time, walked the entire five-kilometre route that wound through the historic Forks site and along the Red River.
A sea of coloured lanterns lit up the sky as the sun set.
Marci had just completed a stem-cell transplant and hopes were high.
“Once you have a successful transplant there’s a very good chance that you’ll get better,” said Peri.
“In Marci’s case it didn’t work that way and she relapsed in February.”
In April of this year she passed away, 14 months after her initial diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) a type of cancer that occurs most commonly in children.
“She had a couple of other wrinkles but nothing that wasn’t too weird it’s just, the magic wasn’t there that time.”
Peri, Sasha and a team of family and friends are returning to the walk in Winnipeg on Oct. 1, 2016. The decision to participate as important now as it was last year.
The goal for Peri and Sasha this year is to honour Marci and to also continue raising awareness for blood cancers, and money to continue support programs for families and critical research.
Thanks to breakthroughs in research, the survival rate for blood cancer has jumped from three per cent in children nearly six decades ago, to almost 90 per cent. Still, there’s more information to uncover.
There are two funded researchers in Winnipeg working in this area.
“A lot of the funding that tends to be available for cancer research is tumor based,” said Courtney Maddock, provincial manager of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Canada.
“With our walk it’s all dedicated to blood cancer research.”
This will be the forth year for the Light the Night Walk in Winnipeg. Maddock hopes to have at least 700 people participate. The goal is to raise $200,000.
Peri, Sasha and their community of friends and family will be part of that emotional gathering. They’re keeping Marci’s memory alive and doing whatever they can to protect others from the disease.
For more information on the Light the Night Walk.
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