Running in Terry’s footsteps
Jason Ayer was just 7 years old when he was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour but the Etobicoke boy still remembers the exact day he heard the news: Thursday, Nov. 8, 2007.
Through 71 weeks of chemotherapy, he said thoughts of Terry Fox and his goal to run across Canada with a prosthetic leg helped keep his spirits up.
“Terry has been my hero. He didn’t let his cancer get in his way,” Jason said. “I was going through a little bit of the same thing (as Terry). I didn’t have to get my limb amputated but I did have to go through the pain and chemotherapy.”
Now in remission, sacs louis vuitton the 11-year-old is sharing his story with students in the GTA in advance of the annual Terry Fox Run, the largest single-day cancer fundraiser in the world.
It’s a role that Terry’s brother Fred Fox is glad young Jason is brave enough to play.
“It’s so important to have cancer survivors out there to share their journey and show that research does work. They’re the living proof of the progress that’s being made,” Fox said. “Not many are that comfortable speaking about their experience but Jason is so personable. He is willing to speak about it — and not afraid.”
For decades, the Fox family has shared the story of Terry’s determination and courage.
After losing a leg to bone cancer, he left his home near Vancouver, B.C. for St. John’s, N.L. in the spring of 1980. The 21-year-old ran nearly a marathon a day for 143 days but was forced to stop outside Thunder Bay, Ont. when cancer recurred in his lungs. He died the following summer.
Family matriarch Betty Fox played the largest role in preserving her son’s memory, said Fred Fox. This year’s Sept. 18 run marks the first since she passed away in June.
“It hasn’t quite sunk in yet. The day of, the morning of, I’m almost dreading it. I anticipate it’s going to be very difficult,” said Fred Fox. “She was the face of our family.”
Terry was the second of four children. Fred, the eldest, works for the Terry Fox Foundation. Judith, the youngest, works for the foundation’s international wing. Darrell, the former director of the foundation, now works for the Terry Fox Research Institute, which supports cancer research projects.
Terry’s nieces and nephews have also spoken publicly about how the uncle they never met touched their lives.
This year, Rolly Fox, Terry’s father, will fill his wife’s shoes and say a few words before the run in Port Coquitlam, B.C.
Now in its 31st year, the run has raised more than $550 million for cancer research, according to the Terry Fox Foundation. It has grown to host international runs, which included 27 countries last year.
Fred Fox said the new generation of students and parents and teachers who continue to build on his brother’s legacy is remarkable.
For Jason Ayer it was an opportunity to tell his classmates at Lambton-Kingsway Junior-Middle School about how he battled the disease — and also how he celebrated when he went into remission on June 6, 2009.
“We had a big street party. We got a fireman to come and a magician and a bouncy castle,” he said.
The sixth-grader is booked to share his story at five other schools, as well.
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