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More than four decades after Terry Fox set out on his Marathon of Hope, Canadians are still following in his footsteps.
Thousands of people in nearly 600 communities across Canada are expected to take part in the 46th annual Terry Fox Run on Sunday, raising money for cancer research and continuing a journey that began in 1980.
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For Fox’s niece, Jessie Alder, seeing that support continue nearly five decades later can still be difficult to put into words.
“It feels a bit surreal,” Alder said. “I often say how growing up, I knew two Terrys.”
Alder was born after her uncle died and said her family made sure she also knew Terry as a person, not simply as the Canadian icon he became.
“Terry never wanted to be seen as a hero, and my family did such a great job in honouring that,” she said.
It wasn’t until she got older that Alder said she began to understand how millions of other Canadians viewed her uncle.
“Here we are, 46 years later, almost five decades, and we’re still continuing what Terry started,” she said. “I think it’s such a testament to not only Terry himself and how humble he was, but just a testament to how much we believe in him and how inspired we are to continue what he started.”
That legacy reached another milestone earlier this year when the Terry Fox Foundation announced it had raised more than $1 billion for cancer research in Fox’s name.
“We actually just earlier this year surpassed the $1 billion raised for cancer research in Terry’s name,” Alder said.
But she believes her uncle would have viewed that number as another step rather than a finish line.
“If Terry was here today, he would say we’re not finished,” Alder said. “We haven’t realized his dream of making sure that cancer no longer causes the devastation that it does.”
Fox began the Marathon of Hope in St. John’s, N.L., in April 1980 after losing his right leg to cancer.
His goal was to run across Canada while raising money and awareness for cancer research.
For 143 days, Fox ran roughly the equivalent of a marathon each day before the return of cancer forced him to stop near Thunder Bay, Ont.
Alder said the physical toll of that journey can sometimes be difficult to comprehend, particularly given the prosthetic Fox was using at the time.
“The prosthetic leg that he had wasn’t a running leg,” she said. “It’s not like the prosthetics that you see now, where they’re so technical.”
Instead, Fox had to develop his distinctive running motion to move the heavy prosthetic forward.
“Terry had to alter his running gait in order to swing his heavy leg through,” Alder said. “So he did two hops on his left foot in order to swing his heavy leg through.”
“The pain and the pressure that was put on his stump and then also on his good leg is just incredible to think that he did that day in and day out for 143 days in a row.”
Alder has recently been able to see another side of her uncle through Run Terry Run, a new feature-length documentary directed by Sean Menard.
The film draws on 96 reels of previously unseen footage along with unheard audio interviews from the Marathon of Hope. It is scheduled for a nationwide theatrical release Oct. 9.
For Alder, some of the most meaningful moments weren’t necessarily the ones showing the enormity of what Fox was doing.
“You see his sense of humour, which for me was amazing because I wasn’t born when Terry was alive,” she said.
She said that humour immediately felt familiar.
“It’s the same sense of humour that my grandpa and my uncles and my mom have,” Alder said. “So it was the side of Terry that was so incredible to see.”
The footage also gave her a better sense of just how quickly her uncle was moving despite the limitations of his prosthetic.
“One of the things that I also thought was really astonishing was you get to see longer clips of Terry running, and it’s incredible how fast he was,” she said.
On Sunday, Alder will join Canadians keeping that run going.
She plans to participate with her four-year-old daughter at Stanley Park in Vancouver.
For Alder, another generation taking part reminds her that what her uncle started on a Newfoundland road 46 years ago continues.
“It really helps to ensure we continue Terry’s dream,” she said.
