Sticker charts are still motivating Toronto woman to participate in the 40th annual Terry Fox Run.
Liana Chamberlain may seem too old, at 28, to be motivated by something as childish as stickers. But the North York woman was proud to place another one on her Terry Fox participation certificate Sunday, after completing the annual Run.
“Turns out even at 28, I still like stickers and completing that certificate is something I’ll be proud of in the end, it’ll be a nice accomplishment for me,” she said.
Chamberlain, who works in the Ontario public service, was introduced to the participation certificate when she was registering for her first Terry Fox Run in 2014. Participants collect stickers after every run they complete, which they can then place on the 10 allocated circles on the official certificate.
“So, I really liked that idea. I thought you know what? I’m going to stick with this for the 10 years and try and do as many as I can and try and raise as much money as I can and see where this goes,” she said. “This year will be my seventh out of the 10-year commitment I made.”
Every year Chamberlain strives to beat her previous fundraising goal. In six years, she has been successful in raising a total of just over $7,000. This year Chamberlain had a fundraising goal of $2,500 and has been able to raise $2,000 so far.
This year Canada and the world marked the 40th anniversary of the Terry Fox Run. Fox, at the age of 18, was diagnosed with cancer and had to have part of his leg amputated.
However, his story didn’t end there.
It was in 1980 that he set out on a cross-country run across Canada to raise funds and awareness for cancer research.
Chamberlain has been impacted by cancer through her family, as all of her grandparents have either died from or had cancer. She also has a close friend who was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma.
“So, I kind of feel like I should do my part because chances are it’s probably going to affect me,” she said. “Or my parents, or my brother or my nephews, or my close friends.”
Jaini Patel, a physical therapist specializing in cancer rehab, recently moved to Canada from India. She used to use Terry Fox’s picture to encourage her patients.
“See? He can run, there is so much you can do,” she would say. “It makes me realize that [my patients] have a lot of strength and we can learn from them.”
To Patel, the contributions from the Terry Fox Foundation “mean a lot.” She hopes to contribute more to the field of medicine by furthering her studies: pursuing a PhD in cancer research.
“So, I really understand what it means to have these funds going in the right direction.”
Due to the foundation’s contributions to new developments in cancer research, Chamberlain’s close friend was given different treatment options.
“It wasn’t only one type of way that he was able to battle his cancer,” she said.