About 28,000 people ran to fight breast cancer in the CIBC Run for the Cure early Oct. 4, 2009. Toronto contributed $4.1 million to the cause.
Couple 'blessed' by miracle babies joins thousands on cancer run
October 05, 2009
Staff Reporter
Two little miracles slept through Sunday's Run for the Cure.
As the 18th annual breast cancer fundraiser took place in downtown Toronto, month-old twins Jonah and Nathan dozed peacefully in their double stroller. Pushing the duo were their parents, Jennifer and Mike Durante, who completed a 1-kilometre walk from Nathan Phillips Square, looping around Queen's Park and back again.
Jennifer Durante was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago, when she was 33 years old and she and Mike were newly engaged. After a mastectomy, aggressive chemotherapy and radiation and a year-long regimen of the strong breast tumour-fighting drug Tamoxifen, she was told her ovaries were so damaged that a natural pregnancy was highly unlikely.
Still, she went off Tamoxifen early, to try to conceive. Five months later, she was pregnant with her boys. Today, she is able to nurse them from her remaining healthy breast.
"We are so blessed," she said after the walk, smiling with pink cheeks from the crisp fall air. "We're here to spread a message of hope that anything is possible and to not take anything for granted."
"My wife's a champion," said Mike Durante. The couple live in Old Weston Village. They took part along with a group of friends and Jennifer's parents.
Two of the Jonas Brothers, Joe and Nick, in Toronto to film Camp Rock 2 also participated. The pair ran the 5-kilometre course.
About 28,000 participants did either a 5-kilometre run or 1-kilometre walk on Sunday.
Toronto contributed $4.1 million to a total of $26.5 million raised in 56 run sites across the country. An estimated 22,700 women and 180 men across Canada will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year.