Terry Fox run ‘still going strong 45 years later,’ says niece

Article content

Kirsten Fox, Terry’s Fox’s niece, wasn’t even born when the first ever Marathon of Hope – now celebrating its 45th anniversary this Sunday – was held to raise money for cancer research.

Article content

Terry, whose leg had been amputated in 1977 due to cancer, died from the disease at the age of 22 in 1980 after he was forced to give up his cross-county – which began in St. John’s, Nfld., and ended in Thunder Bay, Ont. – when it spread to his lungs.

Article content

Article content

“Terry passed just six weeks before my mom and dad (Fred, Terry’s older brother) were married,” said Kirsten, 40, who has been with the Terry Fox Foundation for 13 years, the last two as director of community development for B.C. and the Yukon.

“I was always aware of uncle Terry. And, of course, I would have participated in Terry Fox runs. And then it was probably kindergarten or Grade One when I started connect that, ‘Oh, that guy in the pictures, in the Terry Fox run, that’s the same person.’ And so it wasn’t really until I got to school that I learned about Terry Fox, Canadian hero.”

Article content

Article content

Now it’s anticipated that more than three million Canadians will participate in Sunday’s run, which will be followed by the Terry Fox School Runs on Sept. 25 with more than 10,000 schools participating across Canada in the latter.

“That number three million is pretty consistent over the last few years,” said Kirsten, who lives in Maple Ridge, B.C.

“So it’s clearing not waning. It’s not decreasing. This is an anniversary year so there is a lot more excitement, so we are expecting higher participation numbers. But it seems to still be going strong 45 years later.”

Article content

Back in February, the Terry Fox Foundation debuted a new short film called Finish It, featuring a clip of a reimagined, stripped down version of Courage by The Tragically Hip.

To celebrate the run’s 45th anniversary, a limited-edition vinyl of the Hip’s entire Courage (for Terry) recording is now available for pre-order costing $30 at shop.terryfox.org.

Other 45th anniversary celebrations include a merchandise collection, the national Ride of Hope (led by Terry’s younger brother Darrell), the July release of a new picture book, T is for Terry: An ABC of Courage, a new documentary Run Terry Run that will have a Toronto screening at Roy Thomson Hall on Nov. 10 with a theatrical or streaming service release date still to be announced; a special hike in Thunder Bay’s Sleeping Giant Provincial Park on the day Terry stopped running, and the return of the Terry Fox Run on Confederation Bridge – the largest Terry Fox event for which 10,000 people are expected to participate – after a decade-long hiatus and taking place on Sept. 21.

Article content

After all this time, Terry is clearly still having an impact much like cancer has in most Canadian lives.

“As he believed 45 years ago, we still believe today, (cancer) research is going to be the answer,” said Kirsten.

“People really connect with Terry. People even like me who never got to meet him. There’s just something about him (that’s) so genuine. There’s something about him that we can aspire to,” she said.

“He was no more extra special that anyone else. He was just a regular Canadian kid who grew up in Port Coquitlam, who was raised to work hard, who was raised to set goals, and strive for them. And cancer changed him. That’s when he changed his mindset to want to help other people.”

Article content