The brother of Terry Fox ran with more than 130 students at a Coquitlam elementary school yesterday for the Terry Fox National School Run Day.
Fred Fox was at R.C. MacDonald elementary on Thursday to talk about growing up with Terry and to unveil a school banner to mark 20 years of fundraising for cancer research in the late Port Coquitlam hero's name. Last year, the school generated an unprecedented $5,000 for the Terry Fox Foundation, principal Ceri Watkins said.
Around the Tri-Cities - and across Canada - thousands of students this week took part in the annual event, which collects about 60% of the foundation's revenues per year.
Locally, schools staged a number of activities in an effort to bring in cash for the cause: Coquitlam River elementary had a student dye his hair pink while another shaved his hair; Kilmer elementary also had student and parent head shaves; and, at Gleneagle secondary, Bruce Moore - Terry's high school soccer coach and a cancer survivor - rallied the students before their run.
At R.C. MacDonald, many of the children - including those in kindergarten who had never heard of Terry Fox before - sported stickers on their shirts to show who they were running for or who had been touched by the same disease that took Fox's life in 1981. Their stickers read "Dad," "Great Grandma," "Gramsie," "Oma" and "Terry."
Terry "was just like you guys," Fred Fox told the assembly. "He was just an ordinary guy who worked hard in sports and at school."
While at SFU, Fred said his family thought Terry was training for the Vancouver Marathon "but he had something else in mind."
"Cancer doesn't just happen to people in B.C. but across Canada, too," Terry explained his mother at the time, Fred said.
Terry's dream of raising a dollar from every Canadian was galvanized during his epic Marathon of Hope when he arrived in Port aux Basques, N.L., where the community presented him a $10,000 cheque, representing a dollar from every resident.
"Terry Fox wasn't running to become a Canadian hero or to be famous," Fred Fox told R.C. MacDonald students. "All that mattered to him was that he was making a difference."
Fred Fox closed with a quote from his late mother, Betty, who ended her speeches with: "Just like Terry, always set goals and never, ever give up on your dreams."
