With pandemic restrictions the last two years forcing the event to be held online, the Beaches-East York welcomed back the Terry Fox run as an in-person event on Sept. 18.
One of the teams participating this year in the Mississauga Meadowvale Run was Aashna’s Angels. In 2007, Jatin Dhingra’s younger sister Aashna was diagnosed with the same osteosarcoma cancer that Terry Fox had. Aashna died at the age of seven, in 2009.
An Indigenous activist participated in her first-ever Terry Fox run Sunday in Kagawong, a town on Manitoulin Island, in central Ontario.
Caeley Genereux, 20, was running for Indigenous community members that have lost their lives due to cancer.
“I will be thinking about my family members who have passed away to cancer. And I will also be thinking about my community. I'll be running for them, as well,” she said in an interview before the run day.
Glemena Bettencourt, the organizer of the annual Oak Ridges Terry Fox Run, ran with Fox forty years ago. Since then, the fundraiser has become her life’s purpose. “Me helping Terry changed my life, I believe he saved my life,” Bettencourt said. “For me, meeting him and knowing him, gave me hope.”Fox started his marathon in 1980, committing to run across the country to raise money for cancer research. The marathon ended on September 1, 1980, when the primary cancer spread to his lungs.
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.
Despite the rain for the 39th annual Terry Fox Run at the CityPlace neighbourhood, families, colleagues and friends all came out Sunday to support one another and put their best feet forward. The organizer of the Canoe Landing Park Terry Fox Run, Sal Chaudhry, has been a volunteer since 2009, since his father died of cancer.
Children, teenagers, adults, seniors, and even their beloved pets were running at Woodbine Beach Sunday, all united for a greater cause. Many have been touched by cancer in their personal lives.
The local run was founded by Hill's aunts, Jennifer and Marie Metcalfe, the twin sister and the older sister of his mother. They launched the run in her honour in 1998, and Hill took over in 2009.
According to Marie Metcalfe, her late sister was an inspiration.
“She used to be the one who organized the school Terry Fox Run,” Marie said. “A number of us, my friend Judy Frosch and I, decided we wanted to host the Island run in her honour.