Kevin Maloney is inching closer to raising $700,000 for childhood cancer research as he prepares for this year’s Chubb Bermuda Triangle Challenge.

Run For Lisa, Mr Maloney’s fundraising endeavour, has been raising funds for cancer research at St Baldrick’s Foundation for several years.

“As of right now we are at $88,000. If we can hit $119,000 this year, that would represent since we first started running for St Baldrick’s $700,000,” Mr Maloney said.

Mr Maloney added: “Every single dollar of that $700,000 goes to St Baldrick’s. So you are donating to Run For Lisa, but every dollar goes directly to St Baldrick’s.”

Mr Maloney’s wife, Lisa, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in 2015 and passed away the following year at age 48. In her memory, Mr Maloney has been running in various marathons to raise funds for the St Baldrick’s Foundation in Monrovia, California.

“We lost my wife, Lisa, on March 20, 2016. Prior to Lisa getting diagnosed in 2015, Lisa and I had actually come down to Bermuda and raised money for St Baldrick’s, and we had also done the New York City Marathon and some other events to raise money for St Baldrick’s. Every dollar of it goes towards lifesaving childhood cancer research,” Mr Maloney said.

“A dear friend of ours founded this great charity. So, we had already done several races for them, but it didn’t have the kind of momentum until Lisa got sick herself in 2015. And then my wonderful friend Mike Almskog got involved with me, and when we lost Lisa in 2016, we thought it was a fitting tribute to come back in January of 2017.”

Mr Maloney has been running the Bermuda Triangle Challenge since 2017, noting the exception of the pandemic when the race was cancelled. However, that did not dampen his enthusiasm for running for Lisa.

“Even during the pandemic, we ran up in New York and simulated the races and the same distances as the Bermuda Triangle, and we ran them in frigid temperatures in Long Island,” Mr Maloney said.

“So, if Lisa ever had any doubt in heaven how much I loved her and how much Mike loves helping these children with cancer and loves both of us, then we left no doubt.”

Mr Maloney remains steadfast in his endeavour to raise funds for a cause close to his heart.

“Cancer is a zero-sum game. Someone is suffering every day from cancer. If we can make that road and journey just a little bit easier, whether it’s a lifesaving drug that turns someone’s life around and gives this child a longer life expectancy or a full life expectancy, God willing. ”

“But even if it’s a drug that they come up with that alleviates some pain or makes any daily chore or activity be a little bit better, isn’t that the greatest gift you can give — to give them a pain-free day where they can be a normal happy thriving child to enjoy childhood?”

“Lisa and I thought, especially as we got deeper into cancer ourselves, it’s so hard even when an adult has cancer. You have so many questions. ‘Why me?’. But this is something that should never happen to a child,” Mr Maloney said.

Mr Maloney credits Mr Almskog for being the driving force that keeps their mission going forward.

“I feel like Mike is a saint because he took mine and Lisa’s mission and made it his, and I think that’s wonderful,’ Mr Maloney said through tears.

He plans to take part in all three races over three days.

The first leg of the Bermuda Challenge Triangle is the Butterfield Mile on Friday, the second is the 10K on Saturday and the final leg is the PwC half or full marathon on Sunday. Mr Maloney has some benchmarks in mind for this year’s trio of races.

“My goal, if I can run somewhere around a ten-minute mile I’m happy and that’s in every one of the events. So, if I do between a ten and twelve-minute mile for the mile, for the 10k and the half-marathon, I’m happy,” Mr Maloney said.

Mr Maloney told The Royal Gazette that he will be joined by a handful of people. “I think the last time I checked the web link it was either 46 or 48 participants, but last year we had 15 join the day of the 10K.”

Mr Maloney added that Run For Lisa is a lifelong venture: “I promised the Bermudian people that I want to do this until the day I die. I will always come back.”

• To find out more about Run For Lisa, see runforlisa.org