When walkers, runners and cyclists take to Port Coquitlam’s streets every September to pay tribute to Terry Fox in his hometown, many honour loved ones they’ve lost to cancer.
For some, that includes their four-legged friends.
The disease that claimed Fox’s life in 1981 affects just as many pets as people: Today, one in four dogs will develop a tumour of some kind during its lifetime while one in five cats will get cancer.
It’s with those statistics in mind that Dr. Leah Montgomery and her staff at PoCo’s Shaughnessy Animal Hospital form a team each year to help the Terry Fox Foundation build awareness of — and raise funds for — cancer research to benefit people.
For the past seven years or so, her group of up to 15 employees and their relatives haves collected $1,000 annually to remember the PoCo hero and to support their clients whose pets have passed from cancer.
“We see a lot of them there,” said Montgomery, who recalls tracking Fox's Marathon of Hope on TV when she was in elementary school. “Their loss resonates with us, too. There is a lot of personal and emotional connection.”
Montgomery said she’s looking forward to running the 10-kilometre route Sept. 15 for the 39th annual Terry Fox Run, as last year she was out with a broken leg.
Donna White, provincial director for the B.C./Yukon branch of the Terry Fox Foundation, which is based in PoCo, said Montgomery’s vet team embodies the spirit of the hometown icon.
Four years ago, the charity funded a study to look at osteosarcoma in dogs — the same form of bone cancer that took part of Fox’s leg in 1977. According to the Terry Fox Research Institute, dogs develop osteosarcoma at a rate 10 times higher than humans; its aim was to find ways to mimic new treatments for cancer in dogs as in human patients.
“We all know that cancer has affected our fur family members as well, and Leah and her staff believe in the importance of sharing in Terry’s dream and continuing the legacy he has left with us all,” White told The Tri-City News last week. “We are grateful for their participation and their fundraising so we can ensure that research in to all kinds of cancer continues, just as Terry hoped it would.”
Hometown Run organizer Dave Teixeira said last year’s run yielded around $65,000 for the Terry Fox Foundation; the PoCo gathering is one of the best attended in the country.
But he said if Tri-City residents are unable to take part the Sept. 15 run, “there are lots of ways to give,” including with online donations and leaving a gift in a will. Visit terryfox.org for more information.
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TRI-CITY TERRY FOX RUNS
PORT COQUITLAM
Registration start: 8 a.m.
Run start: 10 a.m.
Location: Hyde Creek community centre (1379 Laurier Ave.)
Distances: 3, 5, 7 and 10-km (via Coast Meridian Road and overpass, Kingsway Avenue to the Port Coquitlam community centre)
Participation: Walkers, runners, dogs on leash, all wheels (bikes, walkers, strollers, wheelchairs, inline skates)
MC: Bruce Moore
Entertainment: Giggle Dam Band
To volunteer: Email terryfoxhometownrunvolunteers@gmail.com
COQUITLAM
Registration start: 9 a.m.
Run start: 10 a.m.
Location: Mundy Park
Distances: 2, 4 and 8 km routes (interior trails)
Participation: Walkers, runners, dogs on leash, all wheels (bikes, walkers, strollers, wheelchairs) except for inline skates
MC: Greg Harper, Breakfast Television Vancouver
Entertainment: Mike Kozina, Julia MacLean
PORT MOODY
Registration start: 9 a.m.
Run start: 10 a.m.
Location: Rocky Point Park (2800-block of Murray Street)
Distances: 2, 5 and 10 km (via Shoreline Trail to Alderside)
Participation: Walkers, runners, dogs on leash, all wheels (bikes, walkers, strollers, wheelchairs) except for inline skates
To volunteer: pomoterryfoxrun@gmail.com
ANMORE
Registration start: 12:30 p.m.
Run start: 1 p.m.
Location: Anmore fire hall (2690 East Rd.)
Distance: 5 km
Participation: Walkers, runners, dogs on leash, all wheels (bikes, walkers, strollers, wheelchairs, inline skates)
