More than four decades after Terry Fox inspired the nation, his enduring spirit continues to live on in a new generation.
Across Canada, the annual Terry Fox Run, to raise money for cancer research, is returning to in-person events after taking place virtually for two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than four million people are expected to take part this year, including Jorja Scott, 17, from Kincardine, Ont., located along the eastern shore of Lake Huron.
"Yeah, it's amazing what he did ... I couldn't even imagine," Scott told Â鶹´«Ã½.
Scott was diagnosed a year ago with , the same bone cancer Fox had.
She says she first started feeling pain while playing sports but it wasn't until she started limping when she walked that she decided to go to the hospital.
Scott underwent surgery to get a new reconstructed knee and is undergoing 18 chemotherapy treatments.
But through it all, she says she finds strength in Terry Fox.
"He's such a good influence to look up to during this time," Scott said.
On April 12, 1980, Fox began his run across Canada known as the .
Starting in St. John's, N.L., he ran close to 42 kilometres a day, morning to night, through the Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario, stopping in hundreds of towns, schools and cities along the way.
On Sept. 1, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres, Fox was forced to stop outside of Thunder Bay, Ont., after cancer appeared in his lungs.
He died on June 28, 1981, at only 22 years old.
Since then, more than $850 million has been raised for cancer research through the annual Terry Fox Run.
"I've been blessed that I've had his brother here in my house. I've had his niece in our house," said Tim Duguay, a Terry Fox event organizer in Port Williams, N.S., approximately 80 kilometres northwest of Halifax.
Duguay plans to raise more than $2,000 by running 42 kilometres along Nova Scotia's scenic Cape Split Trail — a kilometre for every year there has been a Terry Fox Run.
"It's such a rewarding path when you get to that final finish line, and look above and just look out over that view," he said. "It's my little happy space."
