Sick children’s advocate wins Fox medal
A Surrey SFU student devoted to raising money for sick kids while battling his own rare and incurable blood disease has won SFU’s annual Terry Fox Gold Medal Award.
Chris Arena, who has confounded doctors and survived numerous near-fatal infections since being diagnosed with Castleman’s disease as a child, will receive the award Oct. 1 before SFU's annual Terry Fox walk/run charity event.
SFU gives the award to its community members who demonstrate the qualities of courage in adversity and dedication to society exemplified by Terry Fox and his Marathon of Hope.
Arena has had seven surgeries, survived six bouts of pneumonia and been hospitalized countless times with symptoms similar to lymphoma and leukemia, spending much of his childhood in B.C. Children’s Hospital with young, often terminal cancer patients.
The experience has left the third-year biology major humble and grateful, “with a strong sense of commitment to give back,” he says.
So two years ago Arena decided to “pay it forward” and become deeply involved in the university’s Balding For Dollars campaign. Now in its fifth year, the event has raised almost $40,000 to support kids with cancer and blood disorders at Children’s Hospital.
Arena’s condition has stabilized to the point can now live a “normal, mostly healthy life,” he says.
He’s even managed to earn a third-degree black belt in taekwondo recently, again confounding doctors who said he could never compete athletically.
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