“Fox Fest” held to highlight local high school Terry Fox Runs

Fred Fox (blue shirt, centre), Terry Fox’s brother, and Tyler McGregor (red shirt, centre), a local Paralypmic athlete led the first lap at “Fox Fest” last Thursday morning in LaSalle.

Students and teachers from North Star High School were among the public high schools at “Fox Fest” Sept. 17. North Star’s Terry Fox Run will be held Sept. 29.

Over 600 high school students representing 13 public high schools gathered last Thursday for “Fox Fest” as a way to raise awareness for upcoming Terry Fox Runs.

The area’s first-ever “Fox Fest” was held in co-operation with the Greater Essex County District School Board and the Terry Fox Foundation with guest speakers and laps to symbolize Fox completing his route made on the track of Sandwich Secondary School in LaSalle.

North Star High School in Amherstburg has its own Terry Fox Run planned for Sept. 29.

Tyler McGregor, a medal-winning Paralympian in sledge hockey, went over his own journey with cancer and how he adapted to his diagnosis. He noted Fox was often an inspiration along the way.

McGregor told the students and staff that gathered about being an aspiring hockey player in 2009. He suffered a fractured leg and when a mass started forming on the wound below the left knee, it was discovered he had cancer.

The cancer would spread and caused the amputation of a portion of his left leg. He said he was told he had an 80 per cent chance of survival, up from the 20 per cent it would have been in Terry Fox’s time in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

“Upon amputation, I had Terry Fox to look to for hope,” said McGregor. 

McGregor has been cancer-free for 16 years and believed fundraising effort in Terry Fox Runs had a lot to do with it.

“I am here, I am living and breathing because of Terry Fox,” said McGregor. “He didn’t just change my life, he saved it.”

Fred Fox, Terry’s older brother, said he was 19 and Terry was 18 when Terry was diagnosed. He recalled his brother being someone who didn’t give up, even when it was found in March 1977 a pain in his knee was actually cancer.

Terry’s “Marathon of Hope” brought Canadians together for a common goal, said Fred, with Fred stating his brother said getting cancer made him a more caring person.

Fred called the students leaders in their schools and his brother was a student just like them at one point.

“Terry didn’t set out to be a leader but was a leader because of the example he showed,” said Fred.

Lisa Armstrong, director of school runs with the Terry Fox Foundation and a GECDSB graduate, said leadership is about action.

“It’s about caring enough to make a difference,” said Armstrong.

Armstrong said the goal for GECDSB schools is $40,000.

“Every great achievement starts when everyone takes the first step,” she said.

Joe Bell, a superintendent of student well being at the GECDSB, added he was excited to see so many students come together. He said the laps the students walked at the Sept. 17 event were enough to complete Terry’s run, from where he left off in Thunder Bay to where he was hoping to go in Vancouver in 1980.

“Fox Fest” held to highlight local high school Terry Fox Runs

By Ron Giofu