Montreal marathoner Eddy Nolan took on his 41st run dedicated to the memory of his hero, Terry Fox.
This run meant more to Nolan this time around as he survived stage four cancer this last year. He felt he definitely gave this run his all.
Glemena Bettencourt, an organizer of the Terry Fox run and longtime supporter of Nolan, actually met Fox on his birthday.
“I was sitting on a picnic bench with him and I was just giving him his birthday gift, which was just an Adidas T-shirt,” said Bettencourt.
Nolan added, “Terry was about cancer research — no fame, no glory — just cancer research, and I try to put myself in those shoes today.”
The 41st annual Terry Fox Run has even gone international, as people all over the world connect with the story of the legendary Canadian.
“It was interesting, two years ago in the Montreal run, there was a man from Lebanon who came up to me and he was an amputee and he had Terry Fox on his T-shirt, but he was explaining to me that he didn’t lose his leg to cancer, he lost it because of a landmine,” said Peter Sheremeta, Interim International Director of the Terry Fox Foundation.
“His connection to Terry Fox was seeing that even though you can lose a leg, you can still keep going as an athlete, and he was a good athlete as well.”
“I entered the marine court marathon in Washington, D.C., I had a feeding tube and a hernia belt and I managed to survive,” Nolan said. “We all have that part of Terry Fox in all of us, I mean he made us all proud to be Canadian.”
Nolan completed the race and raised a bit over his goal, which was set at $7,000 despite his challenges. He wants everyone to feel like they all have a little of Terry Fox in them when they are faced with challenges.