Moved by the tears and laughter of young cancer patients in a neighbouring chemo ward, 43-year-old father Aadam Forgan saw the opportunity to restore these little warriors’ hope by channelling his love for running for their healing and future.
Cape Town, South Africa (05 May 2025) – It takes a truly remarkable soul to, despite facing his own aggressive cancer battle, endure a race to help support and uplift many little warriors on their own cancer journeys, too.
That soul goes by the name of Aadam Forgan, a 43-year-old father from Cape Town, who ran the Outeniqua Half Marathon as a charity run, despite bravely facing stage 4 colorectal cancer.
Aadam has undergone major surgery and chemotherapy sessions. While holding onto hope for a life-saving liver transplant, he did something truly amazing with other little lives in mind.
He had planned to raise what he called a “modest R20,000”, but amazingly exceeded that target with an incredible R36,252 for the Childhood Cancer Foundation South Africa (CHOC) through his BackaBuddy campaign!
“When I go for chemotherapy, there is a separate ward for kids and adults. Sometimes a single session for me can be 6 to 8 hours long, and in that time, sometimes you will hear laughter from the kid’s side, but also you will hear tears,” recalls Aadam.
“I cannot tell you how this moves me during these chemo sessions, I will often stand up with my six drips and walk to the nearest window, which looks out onto the freeway, so that my tears can just drop without disturbing the other patients receiving treatment. Those children and their families are never far from my mind,” describes Aadam on the emotion that drove him to start the campaign.
For Aadam, this wasn’t just a fundraiser, it was a compelling pull on his heart. It was his way of bringing hope to countless youngsters undergoing all kinds of pain and challenges that they shouldn’t have to.
“I strongly believe that we have a duty to sow the seeds of hope in our children, and the only way to do this is by cultivating it in ourselves, and being examples during times of adversity,” he explains.
Aadam’s hope was to prove to himself and to everyone that hope is alive and well – and by conquering a marathon, rallying others to support his cause and succeeding, Aadam did just that!
Sources: BackaBuddy
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