An icon of courage and determination rolled into downtown Edmonton Friday in hopes of re-igniting the passion for Terry Fox's fundraising efforts against cancer.
The Ford Econoline van that drove beside Fox during his 3,339 mile marathon across Canada stopped for a few hours in Churchill Square -- just long enough to remind people the Terry Fox Run is just a couple of weeks away.
Rolly Fox, Terry's father, said the van is almost as iconic as his son.
"It was Terry's home away from home for four and a half months," he said.
Twenty-eight years later, the van stopped in Edmonton as part of a cross-Canada tour of its own.
Looking upon the van, Rolly remembers the long journey to get the van back on the road.
Organizers with Terry's foundation had to buy back the van after it was sold to a rock bank in Vancouver some years ago.
Ford then spent more than 1,000 hours to refurbish the van to get it back to exactly how it was when Terry used it.
Fox acknowledges the vehicle took many interesting detours before it came back full circle to be a part of the Terry's fundraiser again.
"All I know is they travelled over North America with it," he said.
Michelle Fuller, one of the people Terry met on his journey, says she still remembers the day she met her icon.
"He gave me his autograph and shook my hand and gave me a kiss on the cheek," she said.
About 19 years later, Fuller was diagnosed with Ewing's sarcoma and lost part of her face to cancer.
She says she used her encounter with Terry as inspiration to fight her owner battle with the disease.
She's now a strong supporter of the Terry Fox Run.
"When you give a dollar, that might be the dollar that saves your life," Fuller said. "You don't know."
Rolly Fox says it is this message of hope that is carried with his van at every stop of the tour.
"I have noticed people coming up and looking at it and tears in their eyes," he said.
The run takes place on Sept. 14 and it the biggest one-day fundraiser for cancer research.
With a report from CTV Edmonton's Rob McAnally
