The cheque presentation ceremony of the 4th annual Guangdong Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research was held in the China Hotel this afternoon. It is co-organized by the Consulate General of Canada in Guangzhou, Guangdong People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, Guangzhou People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and Guangdong Charity Federation. The total fund raised in Guangdong from the run reached RMB 437,593.91, which hit a new record. Over the past three years, Terry Fox Run has raised more than 1 million renminbi to the Guangzhou Charity Hospital for cancer research.

This year, the fund will be used by the tumor department to continue their research on controlling cancers by using traditional Chinese medication, Mr. Lv Yu Bo, Dean of the Guangzhou Charity Hospital said, at the ceremony. It is the also the first time that the Terry Fox Run funds a traditional Chinese medication cancer research for the third consecutive year.

Indicated by the data from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention(CCDC), cancer disease has become one of the top killers to human being. The World Health Organization (WHO) recorded 76 million people had died of cancer in 2005. This number is estimated to increase to 84 million until 2015. Fighting against cancer has turned to a common agenda around the world.

Since 1985, Terry Fox Run has been admired as one of the best known charity programs in the globe for cancer research. It came to Guangzhou in 2003 to benefit the local community.

In 2004, the Foundation studied and approved the proposal from Guangzhou Charity Hospital to adopt traditional Chinese medication in cancer research. The success of the five projects carried out by the Hospital in the past two years won them a third-year funding. Accumulated fund donated by Terry Fox Run in this regard has exceeded 1 million.

Admired as a "marathon of hope" project, Terry Fox Run was named after the great Canadian national hero Terry Fox. He was diagnosed with bone cancer and lost his leg to prevent the spread of the disease in 1977. He set a goal to run across Canada for seeking sponsors for cancer patients and inspiring their hope of combating the disease. To date, more than 4,000 runs in 51 countries worldwide have been held under Terry's name. It first came to Beijing, China in 1993, and was held and expanded every year.  In 2006, more than 5,000 participants from Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Pearl River Delta area joined the run with Mr. Huang Hua Hua, Governor of Guangdong Province and Premier Gordon Campbell, from British Columbia, Canada.

Editor: Donald