The 37th annual Wingham Terry Fox Run will be taking place on Sunday, September 14.
Co-organizer Scott Miller, alongside fellow co-organizer Steve Jackson, says the community continues to do amazing things when it comes to fundraising for the Terry Fox Foundation. Last year, Wingham had a record 262 participants and raised $37,225, another record. Miller says that's incredible considering the size of the town.
"Wingham is less than 5,000 people, and there's less than 10,000 in the surrounding area, and we punch above our weight raising money for the Terry Fox Foundation. It is amazing, absolutely amazing and it makes you proud, very proud of the community," Miller beamed.
Miller, himself a cancer survivor, says it's important to keep up the fight that Terry Fox started, with this year being the 45th anniversary of the first Terry Fox Run, which followed Terry's incredible Marathon of Hope in 1980.
"I'm not a scientist, I can't fix cancer tomorrow, but the money we raise every year, is changing people's lives and that makes me wanna keep doing it (the run) forever," Miller said proudly. "Have we cured cancer? No we haven't. Are we gonna cure cancer? I don't know. I want to say we will reach Terry's dream and cure cancer but, I don't know if that's gonna happen. But I do know, that research is changing lives."
Last year alone, the Terry Fox Foundation invested $44 million in 176 projects conducted by 595 of Canada’s leading cancer scientists. Miller says that is a massive difference to so many, who are now surviving different types of cancers that were not being survived mere decades ago.
"Cancer mortality is decreasing. People are surviving types of cancer that they weren't 10, 20, 30 years ago. Since 1988, mortality rates are down 37 per cent in men and 22 per cent in women," noted Miller. "I don't know how to fix cancer, I want to be able to cure it, but regardless, we are affecting lives every time we drop a toonie, or $20, or $50 or $100 in the bucket. This is funding really smart people, to help them to save and change lives."
Each year in WIngham, the “red shirt” brigade, made up of cancer survivors, lead the walk, led by bagpiper, Joy Rutherford.
“It’s a touching moment each year, when our team of cancer survivors lead the group, out on the walk. Usually a few tears shed, at that moment,” said Miller.
Since 1988, the Wingham Terry Fox Run has raised $674,255 for the Terry Fox Foundation and cancer research.
This year's Wingham Terry Fox Run begins registration at 10 a.m. on Sunday, September 14 at the Wingham Lions Picnic Shelter, near the splash pad, and the walk, run and bike ride starts at 11 a.m.
You can learn more by following the Wingham Terry Fox Run on Facebook, or by registering to participate or fundraise, at https://run.terryfox.ca/92890. While you can sign up ahead of time, there are also a team of volunteers ready to accept donations and pledge sheets on Sunday, September 14.