The Terry Fox Run returns to Medicine Hat after a one-year absence (Photo Courtesy Chris Brown)

By Chris Brown

‘Terry would be so proud’: Terry Fox’s dream goes on long after Marathon of Hope

Sep 12, 2023 | 11:53 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Even 43 years later Fred Fox has no problem remembering the moment when he knew the entire country had his younger brother Terry’s back.

“When Terry left Newfoundland there wasn’t a lot of fanfare and only a handful of people there and slowly as he made his way through the Maritime provinces more and more people became aware, Terry was doing interviews, stopping on the highway in a phone booth whatever that is these days we don’t know,” Fred says. “Once he hit the Ontario border that’s where the momentum really picked up.

“I had an opportunity to run with Terry down University Avenue to City Hall in Toronto. It was amazing. Thousands of people lining the streets, 10,000 at City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square. You could really feel that Canada had come together for a common goal to support Terry and it was really a high point of the Marathon of Hope.”

Fred was in Medicine Hat on Monday evening to meet with Keith Walker and the rest of the local committee for this Sunday’s Terry Fox Run. The run returns to the city after a one-year absence that followed two years of virtual runs during the pandemic.

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Fred says he’s pleased the run has been revived in Medicine Hat to join with over 650 communities across the country that keep the dream of the Canadian hero and icon alive.

Fox began his Marathon of Hope on April 20, 1980, to raise money for cancer research and ran a marathon every day for 143 days.

His goal was to raise $1 for every Canadian. Since 1980, $850 million has been raised in Terry’s name.

Fred says Terry would be proud to know what he inspired.

“When Terry had to stop in Thunder Bay because of the return of cancer, Canadians sent thousands and thousands of letters of love and support to Terry, making donations,” Fred, who is manager of supporter relations at the Terry Fox Foundation, recalls.

“Mom and Dad received over 60,000 pieces of mail in at their door over a period of time and you can imagine every one of those letters or cards probably started with the words “Dear Terry” and that this year’s Terry Fox Run T-shirt campaign. We have “Dear Terry” messages on the T-shirts. So Terry would be so proud that Canadians responded to his request that the dream goes on without him.”

The Medicine Hat Terry Fox Run takes place at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 17 on the Sunrise Rotary Trail that loops around Medicine Hat College. Visit the local run’s page for more information or to register or donate.