It’s All in the Family
Rebecca & family of future runners
When Rebecca read TFL Executive Director Mike Hurley’s story about his cancer journey, she joined The Acorns – the crew running and raising funds for TFL this October in the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon and 5K.
Not only is Rebecca a long-time runner, but she is also the daughter of Tony DiGiovanni (co-founder of TFL) and a Staff Physician, General Internal Medicine, at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Rebecca sees her fair share of health challenges in her role, but Mike’s story deeply touched her.
Rebecca says she feels her happiest and healthiest when training for a race. She is grateful that beautiful forests surround Sunnybrook because the trees help patients recover faster and with fewer complications, and because running in nature helps her destress and recharge, helping to keep her physically and mentally healthy.
Trees for Life and Sunnybrook share a tree-planting history. From honouring veterans during the Highway of Heroes campaign to honouring health workers under its Trees for Health program, TFL is helping to grow Sunnybrook’s tree canopy. Over 600 trees have been planted on and near the Health Centre with plans for more in the works.
Dad and daughter at Sunnybrook event (Photo: Kevin Van Passen)
With Mike as the inspiration, Rebecca tried to convince her dad to run. Tony would say he takes direction well from the women in his life, but Tony, who has NEVER run for exercise before, agreed to join the Acorns. Armed with an app called “Couch to 5K”, Tony began his running journey. The app incrementally transitions one from walking to jogging over several weeks. Tony shifted from counting the steps of the run segment to running for 15+ minutes without clock-watching within a few weeks. While he wouldn’t admit to enjoying the process, he did say that he feels stronger and healthier and is pleased with his progress.
While dad and daughter have bonded over running, they won’t be running together this October. Rebecca is training for the 42 KM marathon, 37 KM more than Tony. Maybe there's a 5KM to 42 KM app out there?
Thank you for sharing your story and for joining The Acorns. Good luck to you both! If you’d like to support Tony, Rebecca, or anyone else on The Acorns, you can do so here.