Terry Fox Birthday Celebrates Run Awareness

By 250 News

l-r Terry Fox Run Organizing Committee members Joanna Loog, Alyson Gourley-Cramer and Liza Arnold  celebrate Tery Fox's birthday at the commemorative statue  which is the official starting point   for the  Terry Fox Run.   (photo opinion250 staff) 

Today, Terry Fox  would have been 49 years old. Members of the Terry Fox Run Organizing Committee  in Prince George are celebrating his birthday by spreading the word about the upcoming  Terry Fox Run in Prince George.

It has been 26 years since Terry  first inspired a nation, and then the world,  to raise money for cancer research as he ran  42 kms a day in his effort to cross Canada, raising money for cancer research.  He  died June 28th, 1981  from  cancer, 9 months after being forced to stop his Marathon of Hope because cancer had spread to his lungs.  He was 22 years old .

When Terry started his Marathon of Hope, he  wanted to raise one dollar for every Canadian.  The Prince George  Terry Fox Run Committee has set its own goal for this year’s event,  collecting one dollar for every resident of Prince George.  That would mean a total  run contribution of $77 thousand dollars from  this community.

The committee says solo runs are great,  but there is also an opportunity to  run as a  team.  The "Team up for Terry" portion  means that if you’re on a team, or would like to make up a team, you can order team shirts online www.terryfoxrun.org (merchandise section), and bring  the order to Custom Stitch- they are offering 10% to print your team name on the your shirt for this year’s run.

The run is set  for Sunday September 16th and will start at the Terry Fox Statue  near the  Four Seasons Pool at 7th and Dominion.  The  event goes from 10 a.m. till 2 p.m. and  is conducted in 5km loops.  You can run, walk, bike, rollerblade,  it’s not about being competitive, it is about participating.

To date, more than $400 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry’s name through the annual Terry Fox Run, held across Canada and around the world.   The Terry Fox Foundation gives the highest percentage of annually raised money to cancer research than any other cancer foundation in the world

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