Video – Photo Gallery – 45 Years Later, Terry Fox’s Inspiration Still Running Strong in Port Hope

Pete Fisher
3 hours ago
• Categories: Local, Photo Gallery

There was a special reason to celebrate at the annual Terry Fox Run in Port Hope on Sunday.

David Willis was recognized for 45 consecutive years of participating in the Terry Fox Run, receiving a special 45-year pin and plaque.

Willis was there when Terry Fox himself passed by during his Marathon of Hope in 1980.

“I was at Longueuil, Ontario, and the crowd was gathering, so we watched Terry Fox trot by,” Willis recalled.

That brief encounter would leave a lasting impression.

“He’s been a huge inspiration for me to keep exercising and keep running and raising money for cancer research.”

Forty-five years later, Willis is still taking part.

Asked if he ever imagined he would still be participating all these years later, his answer was simple.

“No idea. No idea. But I’m happy, happy to be part of this.”

For Port Hope Terry Fox Run co-organizer Paul Appleman, this year’s event was also a particularly meaningful one.

“I think this is our best Terry Fox Run ever,” Appleman said.

Among those taking part were cancer survivors Lena and Shannon, both wearing the familiar red Terry’s Team shirts.

Lena told the crowd she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma — the same type of cancer Terry Fox had — when she was just nine years old.

“When I had my cancer, much like Terry, I was presented with the choice of having my cancer removed surgically through amputation,” she said.

Unlike Fox, however, Lena had another option.

She could undergo limb-salvage surgery, which involved removing the knee joint and bones and replacing them with an artificial joint and metal rods.

“When you’re nine years old, it’s pretty scary to be presented with having your leg removed. I think it would be scary at any age,” she said.

Lena chose the limb-salvage procedure.

Today, she is able to walk, jump, swim, drive and spend most of the day on her feet.

“I’m very grateful for that,” she said.

Lena credited advances in cancer research and development — made possible in part through fundraising and donations — for giving people options that may not have existed decades ago.

“It’s only through people like you who care that these options are available to people nowadays, where progress in cancer research and development continues,” she told the crowd. “So thank you. I’m very grateful to be here too.”

Shannon also shared a deeply personal story.

She was diagnosed with cervical cancer when she was 29 years old, just three weeks before her wedding.

“At the time, the typical surgery was a radical hysterectomy,” she said.

But Shannon was fortunate to have a care team that presented her with another option.

“That surgery at the time, there had only been 200 of them done in the world,” she explained.

Research for the procedure was being conducted in Canada and supported by cancer fundraising.

“Because of you, my two children exist,” Shannon told the crowd, pointing toward her children, Malcolm and Duncan.

The emotion of the moment was evident as she spoke.

“I know many of you here have been presented and faced cancer yourselves or within your family,” she said.

She also recognized friends who had benefited from advances in cancer treatment and care.

“So thank you to all of you,” Shannon said.

Then she turned her attention to the people who had gathered for the run.

“For those who are running and those who are not, let’s give a big cheer, a big round of applause to everyone here who has made this possible today.”

The crowd responded.

Forty-five years after Terry Fox began his Marathon of Hope, his goal of raising money for cancer research continues to bring people together — including those who remember seeing him run past, those who have benefited from the research his dream helped inspire, and another generation carrying that legacy forward.