Chris Alford was pictured here with his daughter Katie during the first campaign back in 2011.
Chris Alford set out with the objective to raise awareness for Neurofibromatosis (NF) throughout the month of May and as the month draws to a close, it has been a terrific success.
As many trots people will know, the Alford’s daughter, Katie, suffers from the condition.
Katie was diagnosed with the most common form of the illness (NF1) in July 2010. It affects one in 3,000 people and causes tumours to grow along the nerves, anywhere inside or outside the body.
The plan to raise the profile of the illness was helped by Alford carrying the Children’s Tumour Foundation silks in each of his drives for the entire month.
There has been plenty to notice too, with the champion driver notching up 18 wins with a few days left to go in his predominantly orange and white silks.
To cap the month, the Hamilton Harness Racing Club has named a race after the Children’s Tumour Foundation on their Thursday program.
It is a unique and public way to afford special recognition for the efforts of everyone involved in the initiative.
Francis Pekin, Manager of the Hamilton Harness Racing Club spoke about the importance of supporting those who love the trots.
“It really just stems from being involved in the industry and the fact that we want to support as many of these good causes as we can,” Pekin said.
“Chris Alford comes up to Hamilton quite a bit to drive and all of the participants are like family to us so we will support them when we need too.”
The club will not only be providing a rug to the winner of race two – the Children’s Tumour Foundation Pace – they will also be collecting donations on the day.
In order to support the cause and try to raise awareness of NF, Hamilton will also run an inspiring story in their local paper.
To listen to Chris talk about his drives this Friday night and also NF,
click this link to hear his interview on RSN Winners with Nadia Horne.