What this year’s Terry Fox Run stands for and what it means to you

The 44th annual Terry Fox Run in Edmonton happening at Kinsmen Park on Sept. 15, celebrates Terry Fox's perseverance and raises funds for cancer research. Run organizer Darrin Park and run participant Sawyer Schmidt joined CTV Morning Live’s Kent Morrison on what this run means to them.

 

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

 

Kent Morrison: Coming up on Sunday, the 44th annual Terry Fox Run here in Edmonton is at Kinsmen Park. This year's theme is, “No Matter What.” Darrin, you've got this replica of Terry's prosthetic leg with you, and we were just chatting about this in the commercial break. It is so, so heavy. I don't think I realized what he (Terry Fox) was lugging around. This kind of speaks to the theme, how hard this must have been with him in this leg.

Darrin Park: Exactly, and they didn't even have gel that they would have had on the inside, so it was basically this hard, fibreglass boot that his stump would have gone into.

Kent: We talk about his iron will so much at this time of the year as we raise more money. Do you think it's that perseverance that he displayed on his run that continues to push this now into its 44th year?

Darrin: I think so. That and the fact that he was just such an honest, genuine individual himself, but definitely that perseverance, that no-matter-what attitude, that he's just going to keep going.

Kent: $900 million dollars has been raised for Cancer Research because of this run, which is fantastic. What sort of work is being done with that research?

Darrin: There is incredible work being done right now. Actually, the Marathon of Hope Cancer Center Network is the big project that the Terry Fox Research Institute is doing, and it's looking at precision oncology. So it's the right medicine for the right person at the right time. Rather than, “Oh, you have prostate cancer, you get the prostate cancer treatment.” Now they're able to molecularly profile your tumour and see exactly what you have. There's a doctor at the U of A (University of Alberta) that was given a grant for $450,000 dollars to do some prostate research here. Some of that money is staying right here in Edmonton and that's such a promising looking grant that's coming out of our city. So you know where your money goes. It does stay here too. It goes all over, but the research is amazing.

Kent: Sawyer, you're a first time runner in the Terry Fox Run. Why did you choose to participate?

Sawyer Schmidt: I ran when I was a kid, so it’s not really a first time I guess, but this time, I did my research as well. I got really excited about the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network and all the other initiatives they have going on right now, like the digital health and discovery platform, which is a way to use AI (Artificial Intelligence) to help share information, genetic information, without breaking any patient privacy laws. That's kind of a quantum leap forward.

Kent: You bring up a great point, because many of us run as a kid because their schools participate, which is fantastic, but then choosing to do so as an adult is a new choice for you. So how did you come to that?

Sawyer: That’s the thing, I didn't. I ran as a kid, and he was kind of a role model for me, and then I didn't really think about him for a long time, then getting to reconnect with his story recently. The thing that stands out to me the most is that you don't get to have very many role models these days. With him, he's such a pure expression of compassion and love for your fellow man. That's something really important, and that's what he means to me. So that's why I choose to run.

Kent: That’s a fantastic reason to run. Hopefully somebody out there may have just changed their mind and decided to run because of it. That is a fantastic message. It is, once again, that time of the year. If you’d like to learn more information about the run, it is coming up on Sunday, you can go to run.terryfox.ca.