It’s not the way the Terry Fox Foundation wanted to mark the 40th anniversary of the Marathon of Hope, but the stage is set for the first virtual Terry Fox Run on Sept. 20.
This year, the global pandemic has changed so much about our lives from how we work, whom we spend our time with, where we go, said the foundation in a news release. But it has not changed the desire to help others, to make a difference, to bring light into the dark, just like Terry did in 1980.
On Sept. 20, Canadians will show up again for Terry and for cancer research, not in person, but in spirit, in neighbourhoods across Canada as they participate in the first-ever virtual Terry Fox Run. One Day. Your Way.
There will be walkers, runners, bikers and hikers; some will get up at 4:30 a.m. to honour Terry’s favourite time to run, while others will walk and Skype family in Europe to participate in a global effort.
“In these uncertain times, the one certainty we have is that cancer is not waiting for COVID to be over,” said the foundation.
Important findings continue to be made, as seen when Terry Fox-funded scientists at the Princess
Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto mined the uncharted territory of the genome of a cancer cell and discovered gold: new protein targets for drug development against prostate cancer, said the foundation.
Previously dismissed as "junk" DNA, noncoding regions were once thought to have little to offer for a cure against cancer.
Sudburians wanting to participate can register at terryfox.org.
