Last year Airdrie resident Giovanni Macagnino got almost the worst health news that anyone can get: he had a lump in his throat and it was cancerous.
“I think I went through some classic phases,” recalled Macagnino. “Initially, the first few days when I was told this is what you have, there's quite a period when you're not sure. You're not sure you go through various tests and you hope it's not, but you're not sure. But then when, finally somebody looks you in the face and tells you what you have 100 per cent, the first thing you think about is your family.”
Macagnino went through seven weeks of intensive radiation and chemotherapy treatment at the Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre (formerly Tom Baker Cancer Centre) in Calgary, and received his final treatment on Aug. 1.
He is now cancer free, and six months to the day after receiving his final treatment, to celebrate life and living and give support to all who helped him through his ordeal, he will be running a bucket list marathon in Death Valley, California on Feb. 1.
“I wanted to use that to raise some dollars for all the fantastic people and all the fantastic work and research they do at the (Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre), and especially my oncologist, Dr. Banerjee, and the whole team down there.”
The out and back marathon is literally a run out into nowhere, and it is something Macagnino has dreamt about for over 20 years.
“My vision of a marathon runner has always been a body in the mid-distance running away from me into nothing, and if you watch “Forrest Gump,” you can see there's a couple of images of this type of thing, a long road going off into the horizon,” explained Macagnino. “Death Valley, that is within the pocketbook as well, and is the closest and best I could find. That will give me that feeling of being in the middle of nothingness.”
Macagnino said he is grateful to his wife and family who helped him get through some tough days, and for supporting him over the past six months as he has had to rebuild his body post-treatment. He also hopes to raise some money for the Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre through his run to give back in some small way for everything the staff there did for him. But at the end of the day, Macagnino says he wants to send a message of hope for all others currently undergoing cancer treatment in Airdrie and beyond.
“If somebody thinks they've got cancer or they're dealing with it, head up, look forward and be strong,” he said. “Because cancer is a marathon– it might only take you six months, it might take you five years– it's a marathon, and the way you run a marathon is relentless forward progress. Just don't stop moving forward. Take a rest if you need to, but don't stop moving forward. Head up, look at the horizon and keep going.”
To support Giovanni Macagnino’s Alberta Cancer Society Death Valley Marathon fundraiser visit fundraise.albertacancer.ca/fundraiser/6006030.
