By Wendy Lamond
On Friday Sept. 20, St. Marys DCVI held its annual Terry Fox Run.
The goal for the school was to raise $5,500 for Cancer research and, as of press time, they have reached $6267.61.
To kick the event off, there was an assembly held in the large gym. Guest speakers were Principal Petra Goetz and teacher Ian Morton.
Both shared their personal stories of how they have been affected by cancer with the engaged students.
Goetz lost her husband to the disease when he was just 53 and shared with the students how it changed her family’s lives, forcing them to make decisions and deal with the grief of losing someone that had been in Goetz’s life for 30 years. She also talked about how to start healing by staying positive, moving forward and making a difference in the years ahead.
“Cancer impacts the person that has it but also effects family, children, parents, friends and all the people that love you, and there are so many people that have to travel this journey,” Goetz said.
Next to speak was Morton, who is off on leave right now. Morton was diagnosed at the age of 49 with Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Morton shared his personal story about his diagnosis, plan for treatment and how this terrible disease has affected him. He also shared his personal experience of what some of the money raised is used towards like programs allowing nurses and doctors to come into the home and pharmacies delivering medication among others.
“It’s amazing that one man’s decision to run has lasted so long and raised so much money. One person made a massive difference,” Morton said about Fox’s choice to run across Canada raising money for cancer research.
After both speakers were done, the students headed out the west-end doors and made their way, either running or walking, around town and back up to the school where they were greeted with music, high fives and lots of smiles from staff and volunteers.
When Fox had to stop his run after his cancer returned, he had completed 5,373 kilometres and passed on his wish to all Canadians to keep these events going so money for research could continue to be raised, giving hope to millions.
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