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(Courtesy Marcella Sangregorio) <\/p>\nMarcella Sangregorio was just one year old when her mother was diagnosed with brain cancer.<\/p>\n
Now 23, Marcella says she will run 100 kilometres with her mother\u2019s ashes\u2014from northwest Calgary to Ghost Lake and back. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs a way to remain connected with her and to try to give her hope, I used to tell her, \u2018I\u2019m going to take you on a girls trip, just me and you\u2014we\u2019re going to get out of Calgary for a day, and I\u2019ll take you on a drive to Ghost Lake,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
On March 28, the second anniversary of her mother\u2019s passing, Marcella will run toward keeping that promise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI promised I would take her there and that never ended up happening, so now I\u2019m fulfilling my promise,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
(Courtesy Marcella Sangregorio) <\/p>\n
Her mother, Lisa Sangregorio, was diagnosed in 2003 with grade 3 Astrocytoma, a malignant brain tumour behind her left eye, and was given two to five years to live. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom was such a fighter,\u201d Marcella said. \u201cShe miraculously survived until I was 21.\u201d<\/p>\n
For much of her life, illness was a constant presence for Marcella. <\/p>\n
\u201cHer cancer was so consistent in my life since I was a child that I grew numb to it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Still, she says people often do not know how to speak to someone who is grieving. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf I could tell people one thing on how to speak to a grieving person, it is to ask about the person who has passed away,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Marcella wants people to remember that those who die of illness should not be reduced to their diagnosis. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy mother was not cancer,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy mom was this incredibly strong, resilient person who just would not quit, and she had a sense of humour through all of it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Who was Lisa Sangregorio? <\/p>\n
Born in Windsor, Ont., Lisa later built her life in Alberta, where she studied at the University of Calgary, ran track and became a social worker\u2014a path Marcella says she is now following herself. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe was so simple,\u201d she said. \u201cShe loved a French vanilla from Tim Hortons, and that would make her week.\u201d<\/p>\n
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(Courtesy Marcella Sangregorio) <\/p>\n
Marcella says her mother loved music and leaned on it to get her through her treatments and the brutality of cancer. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe purpose of my run being titled \u2018Still Alive\u2019 is based on the song by Pearl Jam,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Marcella says her mother was also cremated in her Pearl Jam t-shirt. <\/p>\n
Marcella\u2019s father, Mike Sangregorio, says what he remembers most is how hard Lisa fought to protect ordinary family life.<\/p>\n
Even through years of hospital visits, seizures, treatment and decline, she still loved the small routines: taking the girls to school, picking them up and going camping as a family. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe lived our lives as normal as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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(Courtesy Marcella Sangregorio) <\/p>\n
As time went on, Mike says his family knew what they were up against and could not ignore it anymore.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur family knew in the back of our minds that the prognosis was grim,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
For years, he says, many people would not have known how much Lisa was carrying. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe looked and functioned like a normal person,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Lisa passed on March 28, 2024, in a hospital surrounded by her loved ones. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wish I told her I loved her more,\u201d Mike said.<\/p>\n
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(Courtesy Marcella Sangregorio) Running with grief<\/p>\n
Marcella says this run is a way for her to express the pain and anger she feels about her mother\u2019s passing and to show the perseverance she had when battling cancer. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were informed her cancer was growing three years before she passed, and the decline in her health was just very steep,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe went from kissing me goodbye at the door whenever I left the house to needing a wheelchair and needing help lifting her head up. It was really disheartening.\u201d <\/p>\n
Marcella says she remembers watching her mother lose abilities that once felt ordinary.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would have to pick her up on both sides and walk her out to the car,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne wrong turn could just go horribly for her, and I was always scared for her health.\u201d <\/p>\n
For Mike, the run is difficult to imagine, but he understands why his daughter is compelled to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s running with her ashes, and I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh my God, you\u2019re crazy,\u2019 but she needs this to be able to grieve and for closure,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Mike says he is looking forward to supporting his daughter\u2019s run and helping her fulfill the unkept promise.<\/p>\n
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(Courtesy Marcella Sangregorio) A connection once lost<\/p>\n
For Marcella, the run is not about loss but connection. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt never goes away, and it does not get easier,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Marcella says running helps her to honour her mother\u2019s memory. <\/p>\n
\u201cI am my mom,\u201d she said. \u201cI share blood with my mom, and this is her running and her strength to get me through those 100 kilometres.\u201d <\/p>\n
Marcella is no stranger to long distances.<\/p>\n
In November, she completed her first ultra, a 90-kilometre race called The Dark 24 with Sinister Sports, where she ran for roughly 21 hours in a mine shaft. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have been doing a lot of training with weights inside of my backpack,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have the equivalent of the weight of the urn.\u201d <\/p>\n
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(Courtesy Marcella Sangregorio) <\/p>\n
Marcella has also used running to raise money in her mother\u2019s memory before.<\/p>\n
So far, she has raised about $3,000 for Janis Care Services and another $3,000 for the Brain Tumour Foundation of Canada. <\/p>\n
Marcella says right now her focus is on continuing to raise money for Janis Care Services through an online fundraiser. <\/p>\n
\u201cI really want them to take the focus right now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey provided exceptional end-of-life care for my mom, and their staff is considered family.\u201d <\/p>\n
Marcella says she does not have a specific fundraising target. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe more the merrier,\u201d she said. \u201cThey deserve recognition and appreciation.\u201d <\/p>\n
Marcella says the 100-kilometre run is her way of carrying the grief out loud. <\/p>\n
\u201cGrief does not need to be silent,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrief is angry, grief is messy and grief deserves to be heard in any form that people are comfortable to express that in.\u201d<\/p>\n