Water Valley run highlights ‘Courage’

WATER VALLEY - The 38th Annual Terry Fox Run in Water Valley was held despite temperatures being cooler than in other years.

Some 92 participants and volunteers walked, ran and biked, and moms and dads pushed strollers in family groups, all with a commitment despite the snow to raise money by donations for cancer research.

So far this year our total is $ 16,250. The last two years we have raised over $14,500, and since 1989 our total is close to $169,500 now in 2018.

Before the local run on Sept. 16, participants wrote the names of loved ones on stickers for the memory board honouring those who are in their thoughts and prayers today.

The list is long as each one of us carried a special memory for those lost to us by this dreadful disease,  honour our survivors, and encourage those fighting their own battles.

The symbol on this year’s T-shirt is ‘Courage,' such an appropriate word for our heroes today.
Once again the Cremona and district first responders patrolled the route with their fire truck to slow traffic for the little ones on bikes.

The Lions Club and many businesses and volunteers made donations to food, signage and advertising and free hall rental for the event, keeping with our mandate that no funds are taken from the run for expenses.

Everyone enjoyed a hotdog and goodies, hot chocolate, coffee and other refreshments.
There are over 10,000 Terry Fox runs held each year across Canada, all volunteer-led with 82 cents of every dollar going to cancer research.

To date the Terry Fox Foundation has raised over $750 million across Canada. The money goes to all types of cancer. Current multi-year studies include those for lung, breast, ovarian, colorectal, prostrate, brain, oral, and blood cancers, as well as promising therapies such as oncolytic viruses and immunotherapies.

Since the 1980s childhood survival rates have increased to 82 per cent for five-year survival.

This year the poster child for the Terry Fox Run is a lively little girl named Lauren who started chemotherapy and treatments for cancer of her eyes when only six months old. These continued until she was five years old. Now she is in remission with sight in both eyes, loves life and enjoys dancing and singing. Every year her whole family participates in their local Terry Fox Run.

For the first time in Canadian history, more than 30 pediatric cancer research and funding organizations have joined forces through the Terry Fox PROFYLE, a pan-Canadian project to give children, adolescents and young people new treatment options for hard-to-beat cancers.
Short for Precision Oncology For Young People, this multi-research team worked and fundraised $16.4 million to molecularly profile tumours of patients across Canada, and collaborate on the best treatments possible.

Had these treatments been available in 1980 perhaps Terry would have survived when the cancer returned in his lungs. Project leader, Dr David Maiken, based at The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, says the five-year project has great promise by bringing hope for many cancer patients and their families.
Through the dedication of our wonderful communities of Cremona and Water Valley our run continues to flourish and grow each year.

Family members make the effort to return home to join our Terry Fox family tradition as we honour all those in our lives lost to us, those battling cancer, or to celebrate with our survivors. Sadly, our memory board list is longer again this year, but with the hope of finding cures we stay committed to the dream of Terry Fox who said, “I may not be able to finish but this run must continue.”

The Fox family has worked tirelessly to maintain the principles and vision of Terry, and in 2007 the Terry Fox Research Institute was developed for new and innovative cancer treatments. For more see www.terrvfox.org for the latest research and where your dollars are spent.

- Mary Thomson is the volunteer coordinator of the Water Valley Terry Fox run