Although she has attended Canberra's annual Mother's Day Classic once before, this year's fun run will have a new significance for Anne Macafee.
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The 48-year-old Garran bookkeeper was diagnosed with breast cancer last September, having found a three-centimetre lump on her chest only days before she was meant to head overseas.
Less than a month later, Mrs Macafee was on the operating table.
Tests turned up another nine centimetres of tumour in her breast and she had to have a mastectomy.
"The timing was quite shocking," she said.
"I was literally ready to pack my bag to go on a bit of an amazing adventure with a friend, then all of a sudden everything got turned upside down.
"I had [the mastectomy] and after I healed from that I started chemotherapy in October."
Nearly eight months on, Mrs Macafee has just finished 225 days of treatment.
She said the Mother's Day Classic on Sunday would not only be a chance to celebrate the feat with her family, but to stand in solidarity with other survivors, supporters, and those who had lost loved ones to breast cancer.
Mrs Macafee planned to walk the five-kilometre survivor wave of the fun run with her daughters Laura and Caitlin, and her husband Bruce.
The wave celebrates those who have emerged from successful breast cancer treatment.
The event also includes a five-kilometre walk, five-kilometre run and 10-kilometre run, all starting at Rond Terrace in Parkes, alongside Lake Burley Griffin.
"I think that [walking the survivor wave] will be quite emotional," Mrs Macafee said ahead of the event.
"It's still pretty raw.
"I know that there will be people there who are participating in memory of someone, which will also be very moving."
Proceeds from the Mother's Day Classic, which has so far raised more than $35 million for breast cancer research since 1998, will be donated to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.
Mother's Day Classic Foundation chief executive Sharon Morris said about 5000 people had registered to attend Canberra's leg of the national event.
Organisers were on track to reach this year's fundraising goal of $2.1 million.
"Since we began, the five-year survival rate [for breast cancer] has gone from 76 per cent to 91 per cent. So that's really a sign of a positive impact," Ms Morris said.
Participants can register on the day of the Mother's Day Classic from 7am Sunday, with a minute of silence set to be held for those lost to breast cancer at 7.40am.
As well as the run, the event will host family-friendly attractions such as a petting zoo, face painting and a jumping castle.
One in seven women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.