Some people fundraise loudly.
Others just keep showing up.
Today we are inspired and wanted to share this story with you!
For Ryan Downs, running is not about medals, attention or even the kilometres logged. It is about honouring love, grief and a promise made quietly to himself a long time ago.
This year marks ten years since Ryan’s mum, Tereze, lost her five-year battle with cancer.
During that time, Ryan was still a teenager. His family’s world revolved around hospital visits, treatment schedules and the slow, heavy emotional toll that cancer brings. His dad ultimately left work to become Tereze’s full-time carer. Like many families, they were juggling grief in real time, while still needing to put food on the table and petrol in the car.
That was when Rise Above – Capital Region Cancer Relief stepped in.
Not with fanfare.
With practical care.
Support with everyday essentials. Bills. Groceries. Fuel. The things that quietly hold a family together when everything else feels like it is falling apart.
Ten years on, Ryan is paying that care forward.
He is doing it the only way he knows how. One step at a time.
Ryan has turned endurance into purpose. As of December 2025, he has run 2,466 kilometres, maintained a 254-day running streak, and continues to set challenges that test not just his body, but his resolve. Along the way, he has fundraised for causes close to his heart, including cancer support and MS, never positioning himself as a hero, just someone doing what feels right.
At the Santa Run last year, Ryan made a beeline for another fundraiser, Dave. Not to compare totals or swap tactics, but to talk. To listen. To learn. To connect with someone else who understands the quiet pull toward doing good after loss.
That moment said everything about Ryan.
This is not about events.
It is not about numbers.
It is about motivation.
In 2027, Ryan plans to run from Wagga Base Hospital, where his mum was born, to Gungahlin Cemetery, where she is buried. Three days. Hundreds of kilometres. A physical line drawn between beginning and farewell.
It will be a run shaped by memory, grief, gratitude and love. And while the fundraising will matter, the meaning will matter more.
Rise Above has been supporting families across the Canberra and Queanbeyan region for over 30 years. They understand that cancer does not just affect the body. It disrupts income, routines, relationships and stability. It forces families to make impossible choices.
Ryan understands that too.
His running is not about outrunning pain. It is about carrying it, honouring it, and transforming it into something that helps others breathe a little easier. So we wanted to shine a little light on it.
If you want to follow Ryan’s journey, his reflections and the quiet discipline behind the kilometres, you can find him on Instagram at @runningfortereze.
Sometimes the most powerful stories are not shouted.
They are lived.
