Manitobans raise more than $81,000 for cancer research at Terry Fox Run

Hundreds of runners, walkers and cyclists flooded Assiniboine Park Sunday to remember Terry Fox’s legacy and honour their own loved ones affected by cancer.

The 45th annual Terry Fox Run kicked off by the park pavilion at 10 a.m. Sunday. Manitoba donors raised more than $81,000 for cancer research this year.

Families old and young took to the 2.5-kilometre route all morning, some with shirts bearing Fox’s iconic visage, others carrying signs and mementos of the people they were running for.

Some came in recognition of someone currently battling cancer, like Jason Wells, who ran for his father.

“He’s been battling it for four years now, and he’s still going strong, 79 years old,” he said, smiling.

He ran once, around 20 years ago, and decided to run again with family, and an exchange student from Germany the family is hosting, after donating over the years. The large turnout, he said, felt meaningful.

“It’s just good to see you’re not alone,” he said.

Others, like Marcie McAvoy, were running to remember.

“My mom passed away from cancer about 18 years ago, she was first diagnosed with breast cancer … she was amazing, she was the kindest, most loving, most caring person,” she said.

This is her third year running with her family, and it’s become a way for her children, who never met their grandmother, to keep her in their memory.

“It starts up the conversation, right? It’s a way for us to talk about her, and a way to give back in her honour, in her memory,” she said. “My mom was such a caring, giving person, and even in times when she didn’t have a lot to give, she was always there for everybody.”

Beginning in St. John’s, Nfld., in 1980, Fox ran 5,373 kilometres across six provinces to raise money and awareness for cancer research. When Fox was 18, cancer had claimed one of his legs and he wore a prosthetic.

He was forced to stop Sept. 1 of that year in Thunder Bay after the cancer returned and spread in his lungs. He died 10 months later on June 28, 1981, at 22 years old.

Fox was born in Winnipeg and attended Wayoata Elementary School in Transcona before his family moved to B.C.

Back at the registration tent, volunteers made balloon animals for kids, held a raffle, and offered water and refreshments.

At one of the sign-up tables, James Harris doesn’t mince words as to why it was important for him to volunteer this year: he just gestures to his prosthetic leg.

Harris became an amputee 12 years ago after a medical misdiagnosis and called it a “scary process,” but found himself quickly back to work, and back to cycling. Fox’s story helped him along the way.

“You look at Terry’s story, look at other people’s stories, and you realize, yes, you can make it,” he said. “You can do it. You can achieve, and get back to (having) a normal life.”

He got involved with volunteering earlier this year, helping hold a book drive and selling T-shirts. Now, watching supporters circle around the park, he said, felt “amazing.”

“I’ve come to admire everything (Fox) did, and the daily struggles I face just putting my leg on on a daily basis, to go to work, to do the activities I do, walk, hike, cycle,” Harris said, his voice growing emotional.

“I can’t imagine the distance he had to run.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca