This past weekend, Lizzy Guest completed the Rotorua Marathon. This is a feat in and of itself, but she also used her achievement to help raise money and awareness for gastro-intestinal cancer. Throughout her training, Lizzy encouraged her friends and family to support her efforts by donating to GICI. On her Everyday Hero fundraising page, she explained, “it’s important for me to do something for myself and to show my family how important a healthy lifestyle is. I would also like to do something for others. Both my grandpa and my dad died of bowel cancer and I would like to raise money for this worthy cause.”

Lizzy exceeded her fundraising goal of $500 and  spread the word about us by sporting a GICI running shirt during the marathon (a big thank you to Konstruct for designing & printing the t-shirts!). We are incredibly grateful to her for giving her time and energy! AND, it’s not too late to support her cause, check out her page here.

If you’re feeling inspired to raise awareness and funds, have a look at the Everyday Hero site, you can sign up to participate in an event or join our Gut Busters team to set up your own fitness and fundraising goals and invite your friends to support your achievements by donating to GICI…it’s a win/win!

Here’s the most recent data from the Ministry of Health on how many people were registered with GI cancers in 2010 alone.  Collectively, this makes GI cancer the most common form of cancer in New Zealand.

For more information on each type of cancer, see our GI Cancer page.

To see the most recent data on New Zealand cancer statistics from the Ministry of Health, click here.

If you’re not quite ready to commit to running a marathon, you can still raise money for a good cause. Join our GICI Gut Busters team on Everyday Hero and set your own fitness challenge to train and fundraise for!

You can create your own supporter page, set a fundraising target, and invite your friends and family to donate to GICI in support of your fitness achievements.  You can even link your account to MapMyFitness and share your workouts.

Raise money for a good cause AND get in shape, it’s a win/win!

Check out the team here!