Uncle honours the legacy of his nephew Terry Fox
By Al Beeber - Lethbridge Herald on September 16, 2023.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com Terry Fox knows what a terrible disease cancer is. Twenty years ago he underwent surgery for prostate cancer in Edmonton and in October he will be back in hospital having an operation for bladder cancer.He also has another connection to the disease – he is the uncle of the other Terry Fox – the courageous young Canadian whose Marathon of Hope has inspired Canadians and people around the world to help raise funds so cures can be found for the insidious disease.
On June 28, 1981 Terry Fox died in New Westminster, B.C. a month shy of his 23rd birthday. Fox, who had lost a leg to cancer in his teens was inspired himself by the story about an amputee who ran the New York City Marathon so Fox decided to run across Canada.
On April 12, 1980 he dipped his artificial right leg into the Atlantic Ocean at St. John’s NL and began his quest to cross the country on foot one marathon at a time.
On Sept. 1 that year near Thunder Bay, Ontario Fox’s journey came to a sudden end because of chest pains and a coughing fit. In hospital Fox learned the cancer that had cost him his leg had returned and spread to his lungs.
Since the first Terry Fox Run in 1981, millions of dollars have been raised annually by Canadians running or walking in his honour.
Among those on Friday walking as the Green Acres Foundation staged its own Terry Fox walk around Henderson Lake was his uncle Terry, whom the younger Terry was named after.
Residents of all nine Green Acres seniors communities participated in the walk with donations to the Terry Fox Foundation being welcomed.
The brother of Terry’s dad Rolland, Lethbridge’s Terry has spoken to countless school children over the years and will be at Sunday’s run which starts at Legacy Park at 11 a.m.
Fox, who moved to Lethbridge in 1977, babysat his nephew and remembered him as a talented athlete who was always determined to succeed.
He said on Friday that Terry’s mom Betty had urged her son to only run across his home province of British Columbia but that wasn’t going to happen.
“I wasn’t surprised when I heard what he was going to do,” Fox recalled.
“He had made up his mind,” he said.
He said he is lucky to be alive and it’s probably because of his nephew and everyone who donated money to research.
“We are winning the war against cancer; we haven’t won it yet but we are ahead. We’re winning. I’ve been here 20 years, I’m lucky,” added Fox.
“We are going to beat cancer eventually, completely beat it.”
He said he appreciates the efforts of everyone who helps out with the events.
“Anybody and everybody gets cancer. And we’ve got to fight it and we’ve got to beat it.”
Terry says he believes all that running across the country may have triggered the return of his nephew’s disease.
Fox, a resident of Lethbridge for 46 years, was here when he heard his nephew had to quit the marathon.
And he was shocked.
“I was hoping he’d get better of course. And I know for a fact that running didn’t help him. It just helped the disease somewhere else in his body, like it did me, and it did him in,” added Fox.
He saw his nephew a couple of months before he died and he wanted to get out of hospital to finish his trek.
“I think with Terry’s run people realized that we’ve got to support fighting not only cancer but many other diseases and now we are. He started something that was good because other people with different diseases are fighting and I figure it’s important we keep fighting,” said Fox.
“We’ve got better treatment and better medicine and it’s because of him.”
Fox said what his nephew did was “fantastic, phenomenal and good.”
He said the Fox family looks up to him all the time.
“He started something beautiful and different and new,” said Fox, who recalled Terry as a person who loved sports and who wouldn’t let his stature deter him from success.
Fox said he hopes his nephew is remembered forever.
The runs get people together and realizing that we all have to help each other, especially when it comes to diseases, he said. Follow @albeebHerald on Twitter 4
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