‘His story impacts everyone’ Terry Fox’s brother visits Yorkton school to continue family’s legacy

WATCH: Terry Fox’s brother, Fred Fox, is visiting Saskatchewan schools to carry on his brother’s legacy. Fruzsina De Cloedt has the story.

Fred Fox, Terry Fox’s brother, is stopping in several communities across Saskatchewan this week to carry on his family’s legacy of inspiring a nation to hope for a cancer-free future.

After learning that St. Paul’s School in Yorkton had been organizing Terry Fox runs for 15 years, the Terry Fox Foundation contacted the school to make sure they got a visit.

“There’s close to 10,000 schools in Canada that have Terry Fox runs, so I can’t get to all of them. I get to about 100 or 120 every year,” Fox said.

The gym was full at St. Paul’s School on Wednesday morning. Students were sitting on the ground, chatting excitedly about the upcoming presentation. After a brief introduction from Principal Quinn Haider, Fred Fox took the stage and started telling the story of his brother, Terry.

From childhood photos to reports from his famous run in 1980, he covered it all. One could hear a needle drop in the gym as the children listened to the story.

Terry Fox’s dream 45 years ago was to run across Canada to end cancer. His Marathon of Hope ended early when his cancer returned, but the momentum has continued.

Evan Weber, a student in the audience, told CTV News that he loves hearing about Terry Fox.

“His story impacts everyone very well and it helps cancer research excel,” Weber said.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts sent to your device

Fox said he is inspired watching the children since they’re a new generation that could carry his brother’s work further.

“They potentially could be the next researcher, being funded by the money that’s being raised [through the runs].”

Weber said he may become a scientist one day, but he’s not sure.

Whatever the future holds for these young people, one thing is for sure. The tenacity of Fox brought a nation together and inspired many people to “finish it,”

“He was having a really tough day, and he wrote in his in his journal, ‘If I quit now, I’ll be letting so many people down’,” Fred quoted from his brother’s journal. “That’s why Terry Fox was running. To help other people.”

St. Paul’s School in Yorkton plans to continue organizing Terry Fox runs to raise funds for those touched by cancer, in hopes of helping to finish what he started 45 years ago.