Diagnosed with ovarian cancer shortly after her last BMO Vancouver Half Marathon in 2019, Gillian Roberts is returning this year with a renewed purpose as a charity runner for the BC Cancer Foundation.
At 33 years old, Gillian Roberts has been through three ovarian cancer diagnoses, three abdominal surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, losing her fertility and menopause. To cope, she runs — a lot. In fact, to celebrate the one-year mark of being on a BC Cancer clinical drug trail for metastatic cancer, which is keeping her six tumours in check, she ran the entire Vancouver seawall, all 24 kms of it.
The Prince George Grade 4 teacher comes from a family of runners. Her dad owned a running store in London, Ontario, and she grew up participating in the races he put on. While at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay, she started doing half marathons and half triathlons for fun.
“I was very driven by trying to beat myself to get my personal best. I still feel motivated by that but now, more often it’s about the mental health aspect of running. I helps me to feel like a productive human for the rest of day, level-headed with my head screwed on straight.”
While facing cancer, Gillian says, putting one foot in front of the other over a long distance is “my peaceful place.”
Since her first cancer diagnosis in 2019, she has combined her passion for physicality with philanthropy by participating in various BC Cancer Foundation fundraisers including Workout to Conquer Cancer and as a five-time rider in the Tour de Cure.
When the Foundation announced they were ending the Tour de Cure in 2024, Gillian and her Wheelin’ Warriors of the North team, were devastated. The tight-knit cycling crew, who raised almost $2 million in over a decade riding together, mourned the loss of camaraderie and community and the chance to find purpose in fundraising to improve outcomes for British Columbians facing cancer.
“I needed something on the calendar to keep myself going forward,” says Gillian who turned to the 2025 BMO Vancouver Half Marathon. Upon registering she was more than pleased to find that she could sign up as a charity runner for the BC Cancer Foundation.
Her last half marathon, in 2019, was supposed to be a triumphant return to running a year after major abdominal surgery to remove a benign tumour the size of a football. Instead, a difficult recovery led to the blow of her first cancer diagnosis.
Since then, she’s had two more ovarian cancer diagnoses, the most recent metastatic. Subsequent genetic testing at BC Cancer uncovered a mutation (PALB2) which increases Gillian’s risk of cancer and informed her enrolment in the chemotherapy drug trail.
Gillian is grateful most of her treatment over the past five years, including chemotherapy and radiation has been at BC Cancer – Prince George. Because the clinical trial is being led from Vancouver, she worried she would need to relocate, but says her oncologist, BC Cancer’s Dr. Anna Tinker, has been incredibly flexible.
“I go to Vancouver every three months to get scans but in between I do blood work here in Prince George. We have this world-class centre and a lot of really capable people who are working hard to increase access to research and care for people in the north.”
Donate today to help Gillian improve outcomes for the 80,000 people in B.C. facing cancer this year or sign up for the BMO Vancouver Marathon RUN4HOPE as a charity runner for the BC Cancer Foundation.
