Thirty-seven-year-old Lise Berube and her friend Grace Lore were at Beaver Lake in Saanich Friday morning preparing to run a marathon distance of 42.2 kilometres. It would be an incredible feat for most people but Berube is doing it with stage 4 cancer.
“There are days I feel really well, and there are days I feel really tired, I just finished some brain radiation last Monday so I’ve had some lots of headaches and fatigue in the last week, I had chemo on Monday,” said Berube.
“She’s going to crush it, it’s a gift to run with her energy and spirit and presence in life,” said Lore.
Berube’s four and six-year-old count down at the start line and send the two friends on their way. It will be a challenging journey but Berube says it won’t even come close to the battle she’s faced with cancer.
Berube’s cancer is in her brain, lungs, and heart and in February a scan came back showing it had spread. Plans to do the Victoria marathon in October started looking less likely so the friends decided no better day than today.
“Appreciating your life while you have it and just going for it when you can cause you never know when you might not be able to,” Berube said.
Berube is also doing it to raise money for Callanish, a Vancouver organization that supports people living, and dying, with cancer.
They started with a goal of raising $4.200 but mid-way through the marathon, and seeing all of the support and donations coming in, they increased it to $42,000.
Finally, after four laps of Elk and Beaver Lake, the friends cross a homemade finish line held up by Berube’s children in a time of 4 hours, 23 minutes.
“It was easier than I expected and definitely easier than living with stage 4 cancer,” said Berube.
With social distancing, the crowd of supporters isn’t able to embrace Berube and help celebrate her incredible accomplishment.
“I’m so proud, I’m amazed with all the support,” said Berube’s husband Chris Brandt.
To donate to Lise Berube’s marathon fundraiser for Callanish click here.
April Lawrence
