VANCOUVER — Terry Fox would have been a little bit "embarrassed" but secretly proud of the new Terry Fox Memorial featuring four bronze sculptures in a series that replicates the "Terry Fox hop," his father Rolly Fox said Tuesday, at the unveiling of the plans outside BC Place Stadium.
"I think he’d be a little bit embarrassed. It’s the type of person he was. He didn’t want any honours for himself but inside he’d be proud," said Rolly Fox.
The new memorial was created by Vancouver artist and author Douglas Coupland, who explained the first of the sculptures is six-feet tall. As "Terry has grown larger than life," Coupland added it’s fitting the statues increase in size with the final one of Terry, facing west and home to Vancouver, being double life-size.
The existing memorial must be removed from Terry Fox Plaza as part of an upgrade that will see a retractable roof added to the stadium. The new memorial will be ready for the reopening of the stadium this fall.
Said Coupland of the new memorial, "In creating this piece, I wanted to ensure we captured the very essence of what Terry’s run was all about. By creating four sculptures depicting the four distinct movements that made up his unusual gait, the aim was to help people understand the pain and suffering he endured to reach his goal. For those of us who actually remember seeing his run on the nightly news 30 years ago, the four sculptures will always remind us of the commitment he made, and his unwavering courage."
The Foxes also used the opportunity at the unveiling to reveal plans they hope to create a Terry Fox Centre where "all things Terry" can be stored as well as be a centre to showcases the progress made in cancer research since Terry’s Marathon of Hope in 1980.
"If it (the proposed centre) was just about Terry he’d be disappointed. It has to be about cancer research too," said his brother Darrell, adding the family hoped it could be located near the new memorial and connected somehow. They would store all of the "thousands" of artifacts, scattered throughout BC related to Terry and the marathon in which he ran 5,373 kilometres for cancer research but had to stop his run after cancer reappeared. He died one month before his 23rd birthday in on June 28, 1981. Betty said she would also be willing to let go of some personal items she kept of Terry, including his artificial leg Terry he ran on during the marathon.
"This leg holds traces of Terry’s perspiration and blood that ran down from his stump onto the metal and fiberglass material," she said.
"These tangible objects tell Terry’s story. His artificial leg was a walking leg modified crudely so Terry could run on it."
They are hoping the public and past supporters would be willing to contribute but added no monies from the Terry Fox Foundation, which is dedicated for cancer research, would go towards the centre.
The etching from the old Terry Fox memorial at Robson and Beatty will be preserved and is going to the family. Asked what they thought of the old memorial, Betty Fox said "the family would never say anything negative about any memorial for Terry." But added, they are "very excited" about the new one and appreciate being involved in the planning stages for it.
Betty Fox called the new sculpture "gorgeous" and said she can hardly wait to see the new memorial, which will also have an inscription explaining who the young, one-legged athlete was and his dream to help find a cure for cancer. It is scheduled for completion in the fall of 2011.
"There will come a day when the Marathon of Hope witnesses will not be able to share our personal accounts of how Terry moved us and why. His humility, his never give up attitude and his reasons for showing us why the impossible is indeed possible," said Fox, who added this memorial will help to keep his legacy alive.
More than $550 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry Fox’s name.
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