Manitoba man running across N.B. for cCMV awareness

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For the past 15 years, Rob Tétrault has been advocating for the awareness of congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV), a virus that’s said to be the leading cause of infant disability.

The Manitoba man has spent the past week running a marathon every day across New Brunswick to bring awareness to the Maritimes. He began the second edition of Run With Rob on May 4, starting at the New Brunswick/Quebec border just outside Edmundston.

He’ll be stopping in Fredericton this weekend as part of his route to Amherst.

He’s expected to end his trek on May 16. Tétrault said he’d like to see screening for newborns for CMV in New Brunswick and the Maritimes.

“It affects about one in 200 babies,” he said in an interview Friday. “So we want to screen babies so that we can identify and treat the ones that are good candidates for screening. So by doing this run, I’m hoping to raise awareness. It’s the biggest success that I’ve had in my life.”

In total, Tétrault has been running a marathon every day for the past week, 42 kilometres per day for a total of 527 kilometers across the province. Some have joined him on the journey, including his own family.

When he isn’t running hundreds of kilometres for a worthy cause, Tétrault works as an investment advisor.

The first time he did this run was in 2023, when he ran across Manitoba. Run With Rob drew headlines last year when he was joined Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew.

When the Manitoba government introduced its budget in April, it included universal infant screening for CMV. Now, Tétrault wants to see universal screening in New Brunswick.

He said he was inspired to run when he saw a statue of Terry Fox.

Tétrault will hold a news conference and deliver a petition on Sunday following the Fredericton Marathon, where he’ll be joined by local MLAs.

While (cCMV) has affected Tétrault’s son Alexandre, who is joining him on his trek across New Brunswick, he said he’s running for all children.

“I wanted to make a difference for raise attention,” he said. “It worked. When I ran across Manitoba, we raised a bunch of money, we raised a bunch of awareness.”