Cathy Cooper
Barriere Terry Fox Run organizer
Speaker and co-organizer Dylan Luison welcomed everyone to the 31st anniversary of the Terry Fox Run. At just 17 years of age, this year marked Dylan’s 18th run. The loss of his grandfather from cancer, months before he was born along with his mother’s fight with breast cancer in 2008, has inspired Dylan to feel very strongly about finding a cure for cancer.
This year marked the first year starting the run at our new community bandshell in the heart of Barriere. Along with dedicated volunteers and 74 registrants the run brought in $6831 to go to the Terry Fox Foundation for cancer research.
Dylan dedicated this years run to Betty Fox, Terry’s mom who passed away in June. She was a committed driving force behind the continuation of Terry’s dream to find a cure for cancer. Her beautiful quotation about Terry was recited, in which she said, “He gave us a dream as big as our country.”
Betty helped to make that dream bigger than Terry could have ever imagined.
To date the Terry Fox Foundation has raised over $550 million dollars towards cancer research with the modest community of Barriere raising close to $100,000 of that.
Dylan quoted statistics from the Terry Fox Foundation newsletter on the amazing advances to cancer research throughout the years: In the early 1970s the survival rate for prostate cancer was 40 per cent - today it is nearly 90 per cent; the survival rate for breast cancer was 60 per cent - today it is just over 80 per cent.
Although Terry has been gone 30 years, his story lives on, capturing everyone with his courage and determination. It’s amazing to see the second and third generations involved here in Barriere. Monica Peterson’s father ran alongside Terry in 1981 in Eastern Canada. Now, 30 years later, she is out with her son, Jacob. Then there is Carman and Barb Smith who proudly participate alongside their son, Greg with his daughters, Halle and Chloe. As well, Kathy Cooper takes pleasure in seeing her son, Cory with wife, Samantha and their four month old son, Corbin sharing in the day.
We will never lose hope here in Barriere, thanks to Terry’s dream - cancer will be beaten!