Montrealer running from Toronto to Montreal to raise funds for Sainte-Justine Hospital

Zohair Afzal is really going the distance when it comes to raising money for Sainte-Justine Hospital. He is literally running 550 kilometres from Toronto to Montreal to help raise funds to help sick children.

“My wife and I lost a baby. She was five months pregnant,” Afzal shared.

“So due to her pregnancy complication, we went to Sainte Justine Hospital, where I saw kids that were sick and everything.

“And going through the process, I don’t wish that on nobody.

“And ever since we got out from the hospital, the process after how St. Justine took care of us, I said to my wife, if I was about to do a run, my goal is to give back to the Sainte-Justine Foundation to the sick kids.”

Abdul Raziq Khan is the owner of Mama Khan restaurant on St. Denis. “Something that can happen to me as well. It can happen to anybody in Montreal where they could lose a child.

“So the fact that he’s running 550 kilometres, it reminds me of Terry Fox, how Terry Fox ran from province to province.

“So I felt it was an initiative that I had to hop onto and try to help them out, try to raise as much as money as possible.

“The main objective is to help others. If one person can benefit from it, but I get 10 back comments, it doesn’t really matter for me because that one person I affect, it makes it we’re all worth it.”

Afzal shares: “I’ve been running for quite a while now, but I’ve been doing all these crazy challenges for the past two years.

“The last challenge that I did was 250 kilometre on the treadmill for 50 hours.

“And that too was for a great cause as well.

“You know, my goal is to raise money for a great cause, for charity and stuff like that.

“And yeah, so I’ve been preparing for five months now.

“Overall, it’s been going good, it’s not easy. The prep is the hardest part.

“I’m confident. So five months of prepping and we’re eight days away from that now.”

Khan says his Muslim faith and his values of giving back made him want to do more and work with Afzal. With the celebration of Eid-ul-Adha coming up, he says there’s no better time to be charitable.

“It’s how we were raised our whole life, from my mother giving pakoras to the masjid, from my mom catering to other different businesses,” Khan said. “It goes hand in hand to give back. It’s part of our faith. It’s how we were raised as young kids, as Muslims, that you always have to give back

Afzal says: “It’s crazy because two friends I know sent me his (Raziq’s) stuff what he did for Ramadan, you know, and I went to his page and started looking and stuff like that.

“And he’s been doing, you know, all this giving the meals and stuff like that.

“To me, that’s the things that are valued the most is giving back.

“And a lot of people, I think they wait to reach a certain stage to give back.

“And what I saw from what he’s been doing is that you don’t need to reach a certain stage in your life to give back and do it tomorrow if you want to.

“And then he reached out to me. I’m like, of course, 100 per cent.

“He’s Pakistani, I’m Pakistani too. So that’s very important for us.

“So I guess to give back, to inspire people and stuff like that.”

The fundraiser for Sainte-Justine Hospital is being held Friday, June 14, at Mama Khan restaurant on St. Denis at 7 p.m.