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Kayakers participate in last year’s Kayak for the Cure on Go Home Lake, in Muskoka, Ont. The annual event seeks to raise money to support those affected by breast cancer.Supplied
The organizer: Laura Hughes
The pitch: Founding Kayak For The Cure
The reason: To fund breast cancer care and research
For years, Laura Hughes regularly participated in the annual CIBC Run for the Cure, which raises money for Canadians impacted by breast cancer. And then she received her own cancer diagnosis.
Doctors told her in April 2023 that she had lobular breast cancer, a common form of the disease that can be harder to detect.
“I was actually just finishing up four months of chemotherapy when the Run was to be held, and I was in a really low spot. I’d lost my hair, and I just was kind of in a shell, pulling back from the world,” Ms. Hughes recalled from her home in Toronto, where she’s a kindergarten teacher.
She retreated to her family’s cottage on Go Home Lake near Muskoka, Ont., where she often finds solace paddling in her kayak. A friend suggested they hit the water on the day of the Run for the Cure in early October.
“Why don’t we just get out our kayaks and paddle? We’ll still try to raise some money, but we’ll just paddle instead,” the friend said. As they headed out across the lake, they were joined by a couple of dozen more paddlers. “It was a really powerful moment, and I realized that there was something here,” Ms. Hughes said.
They raised $2,500 for cancer care that day and decided to make it an annual event. They called it Kayak For The Cure and held it at the same time as the Run.
In 2024, they raised $5,000. They more than doubled that the following year to $12,000. This year’s Kayak For The Cure attracted 53 paddlers, who covered five kilometres and raised $30,000.
The event now includes a social gathering as well as a decorated boat that follows the kayakers, allowing those who can’t paddle to participate.
The money raised helps fund a variety of research and care programs through the Canadian Cancer Society, and participants can direct their donations to five different areas. Planning is under way for the 2027 paddle, and the hope is to expand Kayak For The Cure to other lakes.
Ms. Hughes, 57, is feeling much better physically, and she finds working on the event helps her heal on the inside. “It gives me a little bit of control, sort of accepting the diagnosis and using it for good. And it gives me hope.”