Westmount honours Terry Fox with annual run

The community of Westmount held its annual Terry Fox Run at the Westmount Athletic Grounds on Sunday, one of nearly 600 communities across Canada that laced up their runners to raise awareness and money for cancer research.

Terry Fox famously ran the Marathon of Hope on one leg in 1980, with the plan to go coast-to-coast to raise awareness for cancer research in Canada.

He ran for 143 days and a total of 5,373 kilometres before the cancer spread to his lungs, forcing him to stop in Thunday Bay, Ont.

Fox passed away at the age of 22.

Now, 45 years after he started his marathon, his legacy is stronger than ever.

“Whenever there’s an event, whenever the community needs to get involved, they’re all in,” said organizer Marina Carricaburu Ortiz. “It’s amazing to see that as a foreigner. They all come together.”

Carricaburu, who hails from Mexico, says she fell in love with Terry Fox’s story ever since taking over the event two years ago.

“I think it’s amazing that he thought, and he could bring everyone together,” she said.

Most of the participants at Sunday’s run were out in support of loved ones who have battled cancer.

Others, including Louise Outland, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2013, were celebrating personal journeys.

“I still worry that it’s going to come back,” she said. “It never leaves my brain, but I come here because I’m grateful I’m alive, and I’m alive because of him.”

Outland credits the services that were available for getting her through the cancer, all of which were available because of Fox’s advocacy.

“Whether it was getting a wig because I lost all my hair or getting a makeup kit,” she says. “To me, it’s important to continue his legacy.”