Running Toward Hope: Tara’s Journey from Diagnosis to Determination
When Tara walked into her routine mammogram appointment last September, she could not have imagined how profoundly her life was about to change. She had found cysts before, but they had always been harmless and nothing to worry about. On October 7th, 2024, she received the call no one ever expects, stage two breast cancer.
What followed was a year Tara describes as the hardest of her life. A year filled with test results, surgery, overwhelming fatigue from radiation, and waiting. Always waiting. Threaded through the fear and uncertainty were the people who held her up: her husband Jamie, her parents, her dear friend Nancy and many of her other closest friends. They stayed by her side, helping carry the emotional weight of navigating a life-altering diagnosis.
At the heart of it all was the Rae Fawcett Breast Health Clinic, where Tara was cared for with compassion and expertise by a brilliant all women team. Her surgery at Royal Inland Hospital, performed by Dr. Lim, brought both relief and deep gratitude. While her lymph nodes were clear, her treatment did not end there. Because Kamloops does not yet have a radiation centre, Tara had to travel to Kelowna for the next phase of her care.
That is where something shifted.
At the Kelowna cancer centre, Tara found herself among the youngest patients in the waiting rooms, surrounded by seniors commuting or temporarily relocating for weeks or months at a time to receive the treatment they desperately needed. Many were on fixed incomes. Many were exhausted. Most were far from home.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about how hard that must be,” she said. “Physically, mentally, financially. This experience really showed me how much we need a radiation clinic here in Kamloops.”
A spark was lit.
As Tara recovered and her energy slowly returned, she felt a pull not just to rebuild her strength, but to prove something to herself after a year that had taken so much. “I needed to do something hard,” she said. “Something that showed me I was still capable.”
Her goal was a 50-kilometre ultramarathon at Berg Lake. She had run ultras before, but this one was different. It was a declaration. A reclaiming.
Training was not easy. Radiation fatigue lingered, and her medication, tamoxifen, made the summer heat especially punishing. Some days, she felt too weak to run at all. Still, Tara pushed forward, step by step and kilometre by kilometre.
When she finally stood at the start line beneath a sky that opened perfectly to reveal Mount Robson in full, unobstructed glory, she knew she was exactly where she needed to be.
The ultra itself was anything but smooth. With steep cutoffs and grueling elevation, Tara missed one checkpoint by six minutes. With a smile, determination, and a bit of charm, she convinced race volunteers to let her continue. “I just pretended to look really spry,” she laughed.
What followed felt like a gift. The weather held. Nausea stayed away. Her legs were strong. Her heart steady. Friends ran alongside her. Every ridge, every climb, every breath felt empowering.
As Tara ran, our community rallied behind her. Through an independently launched fundraiser, she raised donations in support of the RIH Foundation, with funds dedicated to the future radiation centre in Kamloops. What began as a personal challenge grew into a collective effort rooted in hope, raising a remarkable total of $3,170.
“I’m so grateful for everyone who helped make this happen,” she said. “We live in such a wonderful community.”
Today, Tara is cancer free. What she wants most is simple:
For women to get their mammograms.
For people facing a new diagnosis to know they are not alone.
And for future patients to have access to the treatment they need, right here at home.
With every kilometre she ran, Tara moved us one step closer to a future where no one in Kamloops has to leave their support system, or their home, to receive life-saving radiation treatment.