Torontonians raised $1M for Terry Fox foundation in 2023. Organizers hope this year will be even bigger

September 15, 2024 Canuck

Adam Green was 15 when he was diagnosed with lymphoma.

The year that followed was a hard one, he says, but aggressive treatment and chemotherapy eventually put his disease into remission, and he’s been cancer free for nearly 30 years now.

In that time, he’s completed three major marathons in New York, Chicago and Berlin. He says those runs gave him even more appreciation for Terry Fox, who’d become a major role model after the life-saving treatment Green received as a teenager at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children.

“You have to remember, Terry ran a marathon a day on one leg,” he said. “That blows my mind.”

Green is one of thousands of Torontonians who will be lacing up their sneakers for a good cause on Sunday, as Terry Fox Runs take place around the city and country, raising money for cancer research.

A man in a suit stands at a podium, reading a piece of paper and speaking into a microphone, with a large picture of Terry Fox on the stage behind him — Adam Green, 44, survived a battle with lymphoma when he was 15. He says the annual Terry Fox Run helped advance research that saved his life, and it continues to inspire people fighting their own battles with the disease. (Submitted by Adam Green)

The Terry Fox Run is now in its 44th year. It was put on a brief hiatus during the pandemic, though Martha McClew, vice-president of community and school fundraising for the Terry Fox Foundation, says the charity raised more money the year the event went virtual than ever before. That momentum has carried on since the run returned to its normal format in 2022, she says, with Torontonians raising about $1 million last year, not counting school fundraisers.

“After four decades of Canadians loving Terry Fox, we just saw exactly how committed they were to cancer research,” McClew said.

McClew says the run remains as popular as ever, with over 15,000 people signed up for runs taking place all over Toronto Sunday. And she says people are still free to donate or sign up last minute for a run near them.

“We want to have a run close enough so that if you fall out of bed on Sunday morning and want to do something great, then you can come out to Terry Fox Run,” McClew said.

Over $900M raised since 1981

Those runs have raised over $900 million since the inaugural event in 1981, when Fox died, one year after his Marathon of Hope.

Donations go to the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network, which connects cancer researchers across 35 institutes in Canada.

Isabel Serrano, managing director of the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres at the Terry Fox Research Institute, says that collaboration allows researchers to more easily share data and research, as they work to wipe out the disease that affects two in five Canadians during their lifetime.

She says donations from Terry Fox Runs are essential to advancing research in Canada.

“No other organization could have done that as effectively as the Terry Fox Research Institute and the Terry Fox Foundation, with really building on the legacy of Terry and his Marathon of Hope,” she said.

Terry Fox is shown during his run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. — Terry Fox ran his Marathon of Hope from St. John’s to Thunder Bay in 1980. He died the following year, when the Terry Fox Run began in his name. Since then, the annual Canada-wide event has raised over $900M for cancer research. (The Canadian Press)

Green says those advances in cancer research helped save his life during the 90s, and he’s grateful to see researchers have come even further since.

Though it’s been decades since his battle with cancer, Green says the annual charity run remains as inspirational as ever for him. He says he runs to encourage those going through their own battles, remembering a time when a simple walk felt like a marathon for him.

“To have others go out and do that on your behalf is nothing short of miraculous when you’re in that state,” Green said. “These are really, really simple acts of kindness that have an incredible impact on people across the country and around the world.”

ox Runs are essential to advancing research in Canada.