Terry Fox Day is coming up this Sunday and schools in the Lethbridge area are celebrating the legacy of the Canadian icon.
This year, a special guest will be joining the festivities. Terry Fox’s older brother, Fred Fox, is visiting schools in southern Alberta to share stories about his brother and to spread his message to a younger generation.
Fox was at Lakeview Elementary School on Thursday afternoon to speak with students ahead of that school’s 20th annual Terry Fox Run.
“I don’t know where the time went,” Fox said. “It’s been 39 years but time has gone by so fast, it seems like it was only yesterday.
“Terry could have never imagined — with what he started in 1980 — that through schools like Lakeview and communities like Lethbridge and Taber, where I was earlier today, that they are keeping Terry’s dream alive.
“Terry could have never imagined that impact,” he said.
“I mean, he never got to the Prairies — he never got beyond northern Ontario — and today his legacy is as strong as it has ever been because of schools and communities across Canada.”
Fred, the oldest of four Fox siblings, has travelled the world representing the Terry Fox Foundation to and continue his younger brother’s legacy.
“I feel blessed, really,” he said, “but I wouldn’t be doing this — obviously if not for Terry — but for our mom.
“When Terry passed away in 1981 in June, mom and dad could have easily stayed away from the public eye,” Fox added. “Terry raised $24 million and that was great, but Canadians wanted to continue it; so my mom got out — [she] had never spoken publicly before — [and] started to speak about Terry and share her story.”
Now there has been Terry Fox runs in nearly 30 countries around the world, and the next generation of the Fox family are now also involved.
“We’ve been doing it for a long time, it’s who we are now,” Fox said. “It’s part of our family, it’s what we do.
And while he admits that his brother’s legacy has far exceeded anyone’s expectations, the goal is still the same as when his younger brother set out on the Marathon of Hope in 1980.
“Ultimately we want to improve the care… through research, for cancer patients,” he said.
“Hopefully, one day, people won’t succumb to their cancer diagnosis,” Fox added. “Cancer diagnosis is so much better than what it was before, and through the Terry Fox Foundation and the funding that we give to researchers – some of the best researchers in the world are here in Canada – and through the money that’s raised, cancer diagnosis is going to improve beyond where it is today.”
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