Everybody has their own personal reason for getting involved in the Terry Fox Run.
If you go down to the North Bay waterfront Sept. 13, you’ll see families and individuals register and then set off for whatever length of walk, run or roll suits them.
As a reporter, I’ve been there to ask people one simple question: Why?
Usually, it’s because a close friend or family member have fought or died fighting cancer.
They want to honour the memories of the loved ones and help find a cure.
Some people haven’t missed a run since it started 29 years ago. Some watched Terry limp-run along the highways and were inspired for the rest of their lives.
Every little bit helps and Terry was only asking for a dollar from every Canadian.
The foundation in his name has become respected for its frugal spending policies and it directs almost all of what is raised toward research.
And there’s been big strides in cancer medicine and treatment due to the fundraising effort. Take a quick peak at the www.terryfox.org website and see for yourself.
But that doesn’t really tell you why I’m getting involved with the Terry Fox run this year.
Of course, I decided to get my long locks snipped to help bring extra focus to the event. I skipped out on walking the event the year I helped coordinate it as a Kinsmen in Kapuskasing in 1991 and have felt guilty ever since.
I just hoped some people might also get involved and collect their own pledges. If Dave Dale can do it, anybody can.
But the real, honest to goodness truth of the matter is that I’m scared one of my own family members will one day get that bad news. They’ll wake up one day and like Terry Bond shared with our readers, went from being healthy to very sick within hours.
Like he said, it changes your whole world when the doctor says the odds are not in your favour.
And, while we’re being truthful, I’m scared I’m going to be one of those statistics we quote in our news stories.
Cancer-causing toxins were the last thing on peoples’ minds in the early 1980s when I worked at gas stations, did maintenance at an old folks home, cut a million yards and loaded trucks at a furniture factory.
We washed up with leaded gasoline and sprayed buckets of pesticides without a thought.
And the things we burned in our bonfires, standing in the smoke to keep the flies at bay, would give environmentalists and doctors fits.
I could say more, but you can get the drift. I’d be shocked if I get into the 70s without going through chemo and radiation.
So I’m getting involved this year before I have to get involved . . . or wish I did.
I’m registered online for anybody who wants to make a donation and doesn’t have a friend taking pledges.
Better yet, grab a few bucks from a couple of friends and bring it down to the waterfront next Sunday morning. Go for a walk or run.
It can’t hurt and every dollar makes a different.