Bangkok's Eleventh Annual Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research to be held 30 October 2005

The Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok, the Oncological (Cancer) Society of Thailand under the Royal Patronage of Her Majesty the Queen and the Canadian Embassy are jointly organising the 11th Annual Terry Fox Run at Lumpini Park on Sunday morning, October 30 to raise funds for cancer research.

Terry Fox was a brave young Canadian who had his right leg amputated above the knee in 1977 following a cancer diagnosis. While in hospital Terry was so overcome by the suffering of cancer patients that he decided to run across Canada to raise both awareness of the disease and funds for cancer research. The run became known as the Marathon of Hope. He ran for 143 days and over 3,000 miles until he had to stop due to the return of cancer. Terry died shortly before his 23rd birthday in June 1981.

Mr. Isadore Sharp, chairman and founder of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts was one of the many people inspired by Terry’s brave Marathon of Hope and became the founder of the Terry Fox Run which has become an annual event at every Four Seasons hotel around the world.

The year 2005 is the 25th anniversary of Terry’s Marathon of Hope. The Run in Bangkok will be presided over by the Canadian Ambassador to Thailand, H.E. Mr. Denis Comeau, Dr. Arkom Cheirsilpa, President of the Oncological (Cancer) Society of Thailand and the General Manager of Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok, Mr. Patrick Hielmetti.

Beginning and ending inside the Lumpini Park, the run promises to be a fun and enjoyable Sunday outing for families, joggers and health enthusiasts of all ages. Both the 5 km and 10 km routes are perfect for running, walking, bicycling, skate boarding and roller blading. Families with young children as well as the elderly are welcome to participate. To add more fun to the run, group or individual participants wishing to wear costumes are encouraged to do so. Registration is from 7:00 am to 7:45 am and the official starting time is at 8:05 am.

Tickets include an official 2005 Terry Fox T-shirt, official finishing certificate, refreshment, and the chance to win some exciting prizes. [28/7/06 - Price of ticket removed following official request]

Categories for prizes include:

• Youngest Runner
• Oldest Runner
• Largest Group
• Best Costume

Since 1995, the Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok (then The Regent Bangkok) has organised the Terry Fox Run and has raised over 8.7 million Baht for the Society which has been used for the following projects:

• Prevention and early detection of cervical cancer in Nakornpanom province
• Development of a mammalian cell culture technique to detect cancer chemopreventative agents in neem flowers and assaying their possible mechanism of action using northern blot hybridization technique
• Prevalence survey of HPV in general female population of Thailand (partial support for 2nd year study in Lampang)
• Study of genetic polymorphisms of CYP2E1 and GSTM1 among workers in Map Ta Phut industrial estate
• Determination of gene alterations in cholangiocarcinoma using arbitrarily primed – polymerase chain reaction and gene cloning
• Establishment of laboratory of molecular biology for cancer research

See other recent news regarding: Cancer Research, Four Seasons, Bangkok