Annual Terry Fox Run for cancer research to return to Fort St. John

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — An annual running event for cancer research returns for its 45th edition in Fort St. John this weekend.

The Terry Fox Run will take place at Northern Lights College on Sunday, September 14th, with registration at 11 a.m.

The event is named after Terry Fox and in aid of the Terry Fox Foundation. Born in 1958, he was just 19 years old in 1977 when he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, while living with his family in Port Coquitlam, resulting in his right leg being amputated.

In 1980, he began a nationwide run with the goal of going from coast to coast, inspiring the event that now carries his name. Sadly, after 143 days, his cancer returned, forcing him to end his journey in Thunder Bay. He passed away in New Westminster the next year.

Tara Maddigan, the organizer for the Fort St. John run, has organized the community event for the past four years.

Maddigan told Energeticcity.ca she was inspired by her husband’s Brian’s cancer battle. He was diagnosed with a rare neuroendocrine carcinoma in 2021, passing just eight months later.

“The Terry Fox Run was always a thing he really enjoyed,” said Maddigan. “As soon as he was diagnosed with cancer, that kinship was even more with the Terry Fox Run and Terry Fox.

“There is a lot of funding out there for breast cancer, prostate cancer, like the bigger cancers, [but] there is not a lot for those rare ones and the ones you hardly hear about.”

The event – like others being held throughout Canada – is completely run by volunteers. Maddigan has “amazing help” in putting the event together, and added organizing “truly takes a village.”

“I feel everybody has been touched by cancer at some point in their life, and if they haven’t, I am certain they will be,” said Maddigan. “Cancer seems to be so much more common now.”

Fox’s initial goal was to raise $1 million for cancer research. By 2024, more than $900 million had been raised, according to the Terry Fox Foundation.

The Fort St. John Terry Fox Run will take place at Northern Lights College at 9820 120th Avenue.

Registration, which can be done online or by drop-in, starts at 11 a.m. with the five-kilometre or 10k runs beginning at noon on Sunday, September 14th.

With just a few days left to register, Fort St. John participants have raised $2,840 out of a goal of $13,600.

To register for the run or to donate, visit the Terry Fox Foundation’s event website.