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Show your support for Southlake with a virtual run, walk, bike, swim…

Join the Nature’s Emporium Run for Southlake this spring and do it your way
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Never have we been more grateful for frontline healthcare workers, for the endless hard work and ongoing dedication of hospital staff. For many, after the year we’ve been through, giving back as a way to show thanks is top-of-mind.

We’ve also learned the importance of self-care. 

This year, the 2021 Nature’s Emporium Run for Southlake is going virtual, getting creative and participating couldn’t be more convenient. Rather that one day, the annual fundraiser for Southlake Regional Health Centre runs from April 12 to May 9. During these four weeks you can choose how to get active—anything goes! This virtual challenge will have you building on skills developed as the weeks go by and is guaranteed to help warm you up after the cold winter months.

Each week will focus on a different aspect of overall health: nutrition, consistency, endurance and distance. It is designed to help you work towards successfully completing your own customized distance goal during the final week. Best of all, it’s a choose-your-own-adventure style challenge so you can have fun and make it your own—walk, run, bike, swim, skip or summersault—whatever motivates you to get active!

The virtual nature of this year’s challenge is a way for everyone in the community to be able to participate while staying safe, which is top priority. As the hospital continues to fight against Covid-19 and physical distancing guidelines remain in place, community members can still show their support. 

Why not get the whole family involved? You can completely customize your fundraising approach, including your goals, which you can set and track, earning badges along the way. You’ll also be able to access exclusive content that can help you succeed. 

Ready to commit? Register now.

This spring marks the 8th year that Nature's Emporium has served as Title Sponsor. Their generous support has been critical over the years and has made the event a fixture in the community. It’s because of their commitment that Southlake is able to provide such leading-edge care for patients close to home.

Meet Jane Stiles

jane 2Jane Stiles (submitted photo)

Newmarket resident Jane Stiles has a remarkable story and a personal history with the hospital that dates back several decades. 

Jane is in terrific shape and walks between 5 and 15 km a day with her rescue dogs. She also power walks in about 20 races every year; the Run for Southlake is the one that means the most.

Her ties to the community of Newmarket and the hospital run deep, to a time before it was even called Southlake. Jane’s father had his appendix removed there in the 1950s. Her mother had cancer surgery there in the 60s, then went on to live another 30 years before passing away at the age of 89.

Jane was a volunteer at the hospital in the 1970s. She even wore the traditional pink-and-white striped candy-striper uniform, making sure patients were comfortable and had everything they might need.

Then, just ten years ago, Jane herself was referred to the hospital. She had developed atrial fibrillation; the irregular and often rapid heartbeat is one of the major causes of stroke, blood clots and heart failure.

Told she needed surgery, she was referred to Dr. Atul Verma at Southlake. A leader in Electrophysiology and Arrhythmia Services, the physician is one of few in the world to use pulsed field ablation. It’s a new approach that destroys the atrial fibrillation using electrical fields, without any risk to the surrounding tissue.

Jane underwent a dramatic lifestyle change and through diet and exercise was able to lose 50 lbs. Because of her daily walking routine, she can now manage her condition through medication alone. She no longer requires surgery.

Her impressive, inspiring story shows what dedication and hard work can achieve. It’s a lesson for us all. 

Though she now lives in Orangeville, she remains part of the large catchment area served by Southlake’s Regional Cardiac Care Program. She has been participating in the Run for Southlake for the past three years and this year she’ll be at it again. She has already mapped out a 5-km route; it starts and ends with the hospital in sight. She’ll even travel past her family’s old farmhouse where she grew up, along the way.

“Newmarket is home to me. And supporting the hospital is so important, you just have to,” said Jane. “Giving back to Southlake is giving so that other families can benefit the same way yours has, the same way mine has for decades.”
 
Join Jane in the Nature’s Emporium Run for Southlake Virtual Challenge and make your own health a priority. You’ll be helping to support Southlake’s most urgent needs.

Register today at runforsouthlake.ca.