A three-time competitor at the Summer Olympic Games, retired boxer Mike Strange now devotes his formidable will to supporting cancer research.
Strange was barely in his teens when he first dreamt of being an Olympian. Watching the 1984 Summer Olympics from his home in Niagara Falls, Strange saw a trio of Canadian boxers reach the podium and knew he wanted to stand up there like them, to see the Canadian flag being raised and to hear the anthem blaring.
Strange played all the usual team sports as a child, but started to gravitate toward the solo endeavour of boxing by the time the 1984 Games happened, because “even though you’re there with a team and cheering each other on, it’s really just you against the other person.”
In the years since, Strange has proven to be an excellent team player as well, rallying his community to raise more than $150,000 for cancer research.
In a roundabout way, boxing led Strange to philanthropy. His old manager, Bob “Heater” Lavelle, invited him to the 2008 Olympics – his first time as a spectator (Strange retired after the Sydney games in 2000). But Heater had to back out at the last minute when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Heater died eight months later, leaving Strange devastated and unsure of what to do with his grief.
Strange ultimately found comfort in the notes Canadians had sent him after a demoralizing loss in the 1996 Games. A message from Olympic medallist Willy De Witt, one of his heroes, especially struck a chord: Turn this negative into a positive.
That was what Strange did with Lavelle’s death, picking up his friend’s cause of supporting children with cancer. Their first fundraiser, Heater’s Heroes, raised $10,000 and supported 13 families dealing with cancer. After an appearance at the local Terry Fox Run, Strange had a lightbulb moment: his next fundraiser would be to finish Fox’s Marathon of Hope across Canada, from Thunder Bay to Victoria.
Strange wasn’t a distance runner, and didn’t know who would drive alongside him, or where the money would go. But he had the same determination and willpower that had taken him to three Olympics and two Commonwealth Games, and he had his inspiration: the kids.
Retired boxer Mike Strange (right) at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
“If I was running just to run, there’s not a chance I could do it. But when you’re running for something, kids are depending on you, they’re writing letters and posters, they’re going through treatment, you can’t quit. I’d rather die than quit,” he said.
He didn’t quit – not when he got to Victoria and finished Terry Fox’s route. Not when he finished his second Box Run from St. John’s to Niagara, running 90 marathons in 90 days. (It ended up being 94 marathons – he carried on to London to visit the local Ronald McDonald House).
He didn’t even quit when Matteo, the son of a close friend, stopped joining them on the road because his cancer spread to his lungs.
After one of his runs, he met McMaster professor and director of the Centre for Discovery in Cancer Research, Dr. Sheila Singh. He met Singh through the family of a young girl who had died of cancer, and who had been one of the first kids supported by Heater’s Heroes.
Strange says it was a no-brainer to support Singh’s research into cancer and stem cells.
Speaking with Singh’s students and colleagues, Strange could see the impact of their research. Since that first visit, he’s come back many times to see Singh’s research in action, and the Box Run Foundation has given more than $150,000 to Singh’s lab.
Singh said, “We’re in awe not only of Mike’s personal dedication, but also the way he has rallied and inspired so many other Canadians, especially in the Niagara region, to support cancer research. His generosity and leadership are an inspiration to our lab and we are so grateful for his support.”
As an Olympian and a philanthropist, Strange has dealt with countless setbacks: questionable officiating in the ring, skeptics on the road. It would be fair to expect him to throw in the towel. But he returns to something his late friend Matteo said, confronting another doubter: “You have to believe. If you don’t believe, nothing’s gonna happen.”
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