An event in Dartmouth on Saturday is looking to raise money and awareness in support of patients with pancreatic cancer and their families. The Kicking PancreAS 2026 is a five-kilometre race at Dartmouth’s Sullivan’s Pond. Last year’s race saw 451 participants and more than $46,000 in donations. This year, they have a goal of 500 participants and $55,000 in fundraising. Leah Burns, a pancreatic cancer survivor, says the race is a great chance to keep active while raising money. “It’s a great opportunity to put money towards a good cause. I know specifically the money that I raised for this event through my old job at RBC, it’s going specifically towards families and patients of pancreatic cancer just to help them through the process,” said Burns in an interview with CTV Your Morning Atlantic’s Crystal Garret. “So, whether it’s mental health support that they need or it’s housing to come visit loved ones or just the additional bills that come with being a cancer patient and a family of a cancer patient, so it’s just to help support people through the process.” Burns was diagnosed with cancer at 17 years old after what she calls a “freak diving mistake” in a volleyball tournament that led to the discovery of a tumour. “I dove for a volleyball and when I did, I just hit the floor the wrong way and the tumour actually shifted and hit my stomach, and immediately I felt ill so my parents took me to the hospital and we found out it was cancer, so it was actually just a freak diving mistake that saved my life,” she said. “The type of cancer I had, they typically find it in younger women when your skin turns yellow or when you have an ultrasound. I don’t plan on having kids anytime soon so that probably wasn’t going to happen, and where the placement of my tumour was, my skin wasn’t going to turn yellow so it’s not a tumour they ever would have found if I hadn’t taken that dive that day.” The Kicking PancreaAS 2026 5K kicks-off at the Sullivan’s Pond Gazebo at 6:30 p.m. Registration can be found online. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
