Running for Terry

Times Reporter 

 

Terry Fox is an iconic Canadian figure. His name and his story are well-known by almost all Canadians more than 30 years after he lost his battle to cancer. He was the face that helped bring awareness to what cancer is, and was one of the first people to fundraise for cancer. 

Every September schools across the country lace up their runners and head out to remember Fox and his plight. This year Strathmore High School joined the masses, organizing their run for Sept. 27. 

Jill McDonald, one of the committee members, said it was teacher Pat Fule who really pushed and motivated the school to move forward. His mother had passed away from cancer. 

“It took one of our teachers having a personal experience to really get us to start the run,” said McDonald. 

The students watched a brief movie about the life of Terry Fox, who he was, why he was important and why his cause is still so strong to this day – before heading outside. 

“It was awesome, the students raised an incredible amount of money and they were really positive about it, we had tons of kids run the course, they were really well behaved and excited about it. It was really, really good,” said McDonald.

There was over $6,000 raised by the school. Many of the students and faculty have been impacted by cancer in some way, whether it was an immediate family member, or a friend affected. 

“One of the boys in my class, his comment was something about how both side of his family have had multiple people pass away from cancer and he said the least I can do is give a little bit of money to something because at some point in my life it might be me. From a high school student that awareness and future mindedness I thought was just awesome,” said McDonald.