It might be 41 years old but the message remains the same for those who participated in the Terry Fox Fun on Sunday. It was not only about raising money for Cancer Research by either taking donations or making one at the Civic Center. For some like Mitch Godin it was about walking and thinking about friends and family who have had to deal with the disease.
“I have a good buddy that died about a year ago,” he said. “He fought about three difference cancers, Ted Thompson. He had a bone marrow transplant at one time and he survived that. Just lately, not even three weeks ago, my sister got diagnosed.”
Jim Mangan was one of the first co-organizers of the Terry Fox Run in Kapuskasing along with the late Jean Guy Beauchesne. Mangan says it’s great to see how far the run has come in the community from the early days and that people are still taking part.
Mangan, who is a former school principal, says one of his fondest memories was the interest the children had of the run back then.
“We put together the Terry Fox Runs for the kids,” he said. “The kids really locked into that and really fed off the courage Terry had. They admired him a lot and we’re really enthusiastic about finding a cure for cancer.”
It was the second year in a row that the Terry Fox Run was virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Participants walked and biked on their own, and donations were taken online instead of door-to-door like in the past. Organizers hope to have a total for Kapuskasing by the end of the week.
