Calgarians take part in 42nd Terry Fox Run, share what it means to them

Hundreds of people laced up their running shoes to take part in the first Terry Fox Run in Calgary since 2019 on Sunday.

Don Cowie was one of the roughly 1,500 people who came out. He lost his leg the same way Fox did, but 12 years earlier.

“He inspired me to get off my butt and start doing something because it wasn’t the end of the world,” he told CTV News.

Cowie has been participating in the run ever since it started 42 years ago.

“It’s a big day for me. It’s like Christmas but in late September,” he said.

Cowie’s goal is to inspire others who receive a cancer diagnosis to keep fighting.

“I’m an example. I’ve survived for 54 years so, a cancer diagnosis is not a death notice,” Cowie said.

Former Team Canada basketball player Ken Larson was a close friend of Terry Fox.

They met at Simon Fraser University in. B.C. after Fox’s leg was amputated.

Larson said the two of them would play basketball, with Fox shooting hoops from his wheelchair.

“He taught me a lot about toughness, a lot about mental toughness and doing the right thing on the court, not to mention in life,” he said.

Larson said they lost touch for a while, then one day when he was riding his motorcycle in Port Coquitlam, he saw Fox on the side of the road, training for that iconic marathon across Canada for cancer research.

“What Terry’s done for the world and for our planet, it’s just unbelievable, especially from such a humble guy. He never had an ego, he’d never brag about stuff,” he said.

Calgary-born WWE hall of famer Bret “Hitman” Hart is a cancer survivor and says this is the most important day for him as a Canadian.

“Terry Fox will always be, as far as Canadian heroes, I think the best there is, the best there was and the best there will ever be,” Hart said.

Cowie agrees, saying, “He saw a need and did it regardless of the consequences and that’s pretty important to me."

This year’s Terry Fox Run in Calgary has raised over $227,000 for cancer research.

“It basically means to me that there's an improved probability that more and more people will recover from cancer. Cancer is becoming a disease that people live, not the disease that people die from so much,” said Paul Cox, one of the organizers.

People can still donate on the Terry Fox Foundation website.