‘Uncle Terry’ an inspiration

By Lethbridge Herald on September 20, 2024.

LEAVE IT TO BEEBER – Al Beeber – Managing Editor

Terry Fox is a hero and we are lucky in Lethbridge to call him our own. No, I’m not talking about the other famous Terry whose inspiring Marathon of Hope has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for cancer research in Canada since 1980.

Thanks to that Terry who tragically died in 1981 after the cancer that had cost him a leg as a teenager returned and forced him to cut short his fundraising marathon near Thunder Bay, Ont. in 1980, that research has helped to save lives across this country.

Among those lives is our own Terry, who at 85 years old is a two-time cancer survivor, a survivor in his own words because of his nephew who was named after him.

Uncle Terry, who was born Terence as he told me last week, has dealt with two types of cancer for more than two decades and he is still going to runs and schools and talking whenever the opportunity arises about the courage and dedication his namesake nephew showed as a teenager facing a life-changing, and eventually, life-taking disease.

A week ago today, ‘Uncle Terry’ walked at Henderson Lake with residents of various Green Acres Foundation facilities in their Silver Fox Run. On Sunday, he was at Legacy Park leading the way on the annual Terry Fox Run around that beautiful northside park.

At 85, Terry who used to babysit his nephew in Winnipeg before his brother Roland relocated his family to the West Coast, was again rallying people to support cancer research in his nephew’s name. And he will undoubtedly do it as long as he can walk and breathe.

Like his nephew, our own Terry is an inspiration to those battling illness and facing mortality because of an illness that knows no prejudice, shows no favouritism. Cancer can strike anyone at any time, regardless of age, gender, race. Cancer doesn’t care, it’s a merciless scourge that has caused untold grief on its victims, their families and society itself.

But because of the Terry Fox Run and the Marathon of Hope, cancer patients have hope that one day a cure will be found for the many types of this insidious disease.

All of us have been touched by cancer in some way. Statistics show most of us at some time will be if we haven’t already. How many of us on our own streets know people battling the disease or survivors or families who lost a loved one to cancer?

It has touched us all and just as in 1980 when Terry Fox dipped a leg into the Atlantic Ocean to bring attention to cancer, it’s important that we all continue his quest to find a cure.

In Lethbridge, however, that annual fundraiser needs help. This year’s run was organized by a volunteer committee of two – yes, two – people who took on an enormous task because of their own dedication to Terry Fox’s goal. Two people in a city of 106,000 people who stepped up to the plate along with ‘Uncle Terry’ to  keep Terry Fox’s spirit alive. Thanks to those people, Lethbridge residents had a chance to show their own appreciation and support for the Terry Fox Foundation and its ongoing mission. And an enthusiastic group of about 100 did just that, sprinting, jogging or walking around the park on a spectacular September morning.

If an 85-year-old cancer survivor can put in the time and the effort to raise awareness for cancer research then there are others in this community who can, as well. Me among them.

So next year, if I’m healthy and available, I’m going to step up to that plate as well. Who’s with me? Let’s keep this run alive here to help our friends, family and neighbours stay alive when they find themselves facing a meeting with cancer.

We owe it to each other and ourselves.