For the first time since 2019, the Newmarket Terry Fox Run is taking place in person on Sept. 18.
"We definitely miss the participants and just everybody being together for Terry Fox. So I think I think it'll be fantastic. And I'm really hoping that a lot more participants come out this year," said Muriel Lee, one of the organizers of the event.
The past two Terry Fox runs have been held virtually due to the pandemic. This upcoming run will be the 42nd Marathon of Hope, which was started by Terry Fox's iconic run across Canada.
The run, a five-kilometre route, will start at the Ray Twinney Recreation Complex on Eagle Street at 9 a.m.
The Newmarket event has a fundraising goal of $90,000, which is roughly $1 per every resident in the town.
"Our goal is to have $1 from every resident, because Terry Fox, his goal was always if you've donated $1 you're part of the Marathon of Hope. So that's how we're looking at it, if you donate $1, you're part of the Marathon of Hope. So if every resident in Newmarket donated $1, there's $90,000," she said.
Lee said she hopes more people will come out this year and she anticipates a lot of registrations in the lead up to run day. There are already a number of participants signed up for the run, among them is Glenn Rodger.
The well-known local photographer has shared his personal story with cancer in hopes of raising awareness and money in support of the Terry Fox Run. In 2018 he found out he had stage 3 C melanoma. On Aug. 28, he had a surgery to remove a five-centimetre-long cancer from above his ankle and was put on immunotherapy drugs.
He said the ordeal left him very swollen and unable to walk at times for about 18 months. He also lacked stamina, as he said, "I would go out and do an event and I'd have to come home and sleep."
During the pandemic, he was able to take some time and recover, however, Rodger said "with melanoma, you're never cancer free."
He continues to have regular checkups with his doctors, who he said have been a very important part of his story. He also credited friend Diane Buchanan who visited and checked in with him regularly, Suzanne Urzendowsky, the social worker at the Doane House Hospice in Newmarket for helping him process his emotions, and his lovely wife of 32 years, Jean, for being so amazing and helping him through this.
"You see me around, I'm always happy or trying to be and I carried that with me right through the cancer," he said.
One thing to keep spirits up was The Allman Brothers band. Rodger was wearing a shirt from the band when he went to one of the first appointments with his dermatologists and they connected over their mutual musical interest. After that, he bought more of the exact same shirt and wore it to all his appointments.
"I still wear the shirt when going for cancer checkups. I tell people I'm alive today because of The Allman Brothers," he said.
Just this month, he was able to travel with his wife to Macon, Georgia to see the Allman Brothers Band museum there.
Lately, Rodger has changed his band shirts for Terry Fox shirts. He has several of the same ones and wears them every day to raise awareness.
"Terry Fox ran, he averaged over 26 miles a day for 143 days, like this guy is incredible," he said.
Rodger has started Team Majestic, which is also a motto he lives by. He has a goal to raise $5,373 in honour of the number of kilometres Terry Fox ran before having to stop in Thunder Bay.
He said he raised more than $1,000 just since sharing his own cancer story and credited Laurie Osborne, another local resident involved in the Terry Fox Run, with pushing him to speak out.
"The reason I'm sharing it publicly, she made me feel brave enough to do it," he said. "She's been a major part of my journey and I love her and can't say enough about her."
Another participant, Cheryl McCart, also credits Osborne with connecting her family to the Terry Fox Run. In 2020, her then four-year-old son, Parker, was diagnosed with ewing sarcoma, which she said is "a nasty beast of a cancer with poor statistics and outdated treatments."
Doctors determined that for Parker to have any chance of survival, he would have to have his right leg amputated through the knee. The surgery was completed on Sept. 10, 2020.
Not knowing if they would be able to participate in the Terry Fox Run, which was being held just 10 days later that year, but still wanting to do something, McCart said she reached out to Osborne for a lawn sign. When she brought the sign, she also brought so much more.
"Not only did Laurie bring over a sign, Laurie came over with so much support. She came with some books about Terry Fox and cancer and things like that for Parker," she said. "I didn't feel any more like I was just promoting the Terry Fox Run. I felt like Terry Fox was totally supporting us as a family."
She said just 10 days later, her family, including Parker, were able to head out and participate in the virtual run, walking around as a group and playing at a playground in their Terry Fox shirts. She said that Parker's positive spirit reminded her a lot of Terry.
"He didn't dwell on it. He just said, 'OK, what's next? OK, this is what I have to do.' And it very much made me feel like it is very similar to how Terry Fox continued on, as well," McCart said.
On Sept. 10, 2021, exactly one year after his amputation, Parker passed away. His body was donated to research and McCart said, "I'm very hopeful that they'll maybe find something to help."
She said that by doing the Terry Fox Run again this year and fundraising through her team, Persevere like Parker, that they will be able to contribute to more research on childhood cancers. She said next year she plans to go even bigger and hold more fundraisers in the leadup to run day, but this year she will be getting out there with her group on Sept. 18.
You can register for the Terry Fox Run online or make a donation to Team Majestic, Persevere like Parker, or any of the other local participants through the website. On the event day, you can walk or run at your own pace and enjoy time together as a community.
