LETHBRIDGE – In 1980, Terry Fox made history with his Marathon of Hope. After losing a leg to cancer, Fox embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research.
35 years later, his legacy is as strong as ever with continued fund raising and activism for cancer research, around the world and here in Lethbridge.
“It is a major event,” said Lethbridge Terry Fox Run Chairperson Evelyn Moman. “It is one of the longest running runs in Canada and he is a Canadian… and was a hero across Canada.”
This hero was also a nephew. His uncle Terry Fox was at the Lethbridge run Sunday, sharing young Fox’s spirit with the runners.
“I used to babysit Terry and sometimes I’d say ‘Terry you can’t do this or you can’t do that’” said uncle Terry. “Oh, he’d find a way of doing it! Some people would say that being stubborn but I always said he was determined.”
Over the 35 years of the run, the Terry Fox foundation has raised over 650 million dollars for cancer research. This year, the Lethbridge run raised over 14 thousand dollars with online totals still to be counted.
“I don’t think there’s a family in Canada that hasn’t been touched by cancer,” said Moman. “I think that is why we must continue this run, we must make sure this goes on.”
Each person at the run had someone on their mind as they ran this year.
One woman Global News spoke with said she was running for three people: her mother who died from breast cancer, a good friend who was with her at the run who is currently battling cancer and another friend who is in stage four of ovarian cancer.
“It affects everybody,” she said.
As for uncle Terry, he said could not be more proud of his nephews dream.
“It makes me feel good that my nephew did what he did, what he started. Now, there’s a lot of good charities out there and they’re going every weekend and it was because of him. I know it. It’s because of what he started.”
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