By 6 am, thousands of people had gathered at Kololo Independence grounds to participate in the 6th Rotary Cancer Run. They started off with Aerobics to prepare their bodies for the 5, 10 and 21km runs. The runners were then called to the starting point where they were flagged off by the Vice President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi. The runners took different routes around Kampala depending on the distances they had chosen to run.

The organizers of the event said they had collected 1.3 billion shillings. “We have collected 1.1 billion, with a net of expenses, we have a net of 740 million Uganda shillings.” Said, Stephen Mwanje – Organizer. The Chief runner Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi and other dignitaries applauded Ugandans for having turned up in large numbers to support the Cancer run. “I want to thank all of you for responding to our call to join us to raise much-needed resources.” Said the Vice President.

Many of those who participated promised to continue supporting Rotary’s effort to fight cancer. “We’ve been on this Cancer Run for the last six years because we believe that awareness will help people save their lives. We have a couple of survivors who are there because they detected this catch early, so the Cancer Run is part of our awareness drive.” “I feel good that I have run to beat cancer and to show that cancer is a very dangerous disease and that the whole world should try to prevent it, it is very bad, it is out there and killing most of the people in the world.” “We have only one cancer machine which makes it very difficult to treat the many numbers that are in the country. So when we come together as a Rotary fraternity, we can join hands and fight the disease.” “We are tired of referring people to India and abroad for cancer treatment.”

The proceeds of the run were going to finance the building of a Bunker for a Radiotherapy machine at Nsambya hospital. It was expected that the availability of the Radiotherapy machine would relieve cancer patients of the need to travel abroad to receive treatment.