(Updated 10:30 a.m., Sept. 18)
Local Terry Fox Run attracts 475 participants
By Fred Sherwin
Orléans Online

Anika Chan-Heuthorst pins a card with her grandfather's name on it to a memorial baord at the start of the Orléans Terry Fox Run on Sunday. Joseph Heuthorst died from cancer in 2000. Fred Sherwin/Photo

Organizers of the this year's Terry Fox Run held at Sir Wilfrid Laurier Secondary School on Sunday say 475 people took part in the event, raising nearly $21,000 in the process.

After taking a two year break to recharge his batteries, cancer survivor Chris Goneau was once again at the helm of the local run which he wanted to return to its roots.

"I thought it was getting a bit too commercialized with the barbecue and everything else and I wanted to get back to the main purpose which is the run itself and raising money for cancer research," said Goneau.

Among the 475 participants who walked, ran, rollerbladed and cycled around the 10km course was Marcella MacDonald who's sister Stella succumbed to breast cancer in 1998.

"I'll be thinking of her every step of the way," said Marcella after writing her sister's name on a card and pinning it to a memorial board before setting off on the course. "She struggled for about four years before she died."

Besides her sister, Marcella was also running for her brother Donald who died from cancer in 1992 and her husband Pierre Valiquette who had a tumour removed from his neck in 2002 and was there to provide support along with her 14-year-old daughter Melanie and 10-year-old son Mathieu who both ran with her.

Carole Comtois was running in the local event for only the second time. In 2000 she organized a Terry Fox Run in Heidelberg, Germany where she was posted at the time. Both of her parents and her mother-in-law are cancer victims.

"It such a vicious illness. Hopefully they'll find a cure one day," said Comtois.

According to organizers of this year's Terry Fox Run in Orleans, 475 people registered for the event and raised close to $21,000. Fred Sherwin/Photo

Claude Charron was running in Sunday's event for only the first time. Two days before last year's Run he found out he had lymphoma. He went through two sessions of chemotherapy and took a month off work to recuperate.

During the summer his daughter Josée, who is an accomplished track athlete at Giséle Lalonde secondary school and a competitive soccer player, talked him into taking part in the Terry Fox Run and the pair started training together.

"I've never run in my life. When we started training she rode behind me on her bicycle. After half a kilometre I thought I was going to croak," joked Charron after the father and daughter completed the five kilometre course through Fallingbrook.

Fifteen-year-old Bryan Ladds was also taking part in the Orléans Terry Fox Run for the first time and like many of the other 474 participants, he had a special reason to do so. His grandfather Bernard Clarkson passed away from cancer in April.

"It was difficult. We started getting pretty close in the last few years. We both loved history a lot then as soon as we started connecting he was diagnosed with cancer," said Ladds who was taking part in the event along with members of his house league soccer team.

It's people like Marcella MacDonald, Carole Comtois, Claude Charron and Bryan Ladds, that make all the work that goes into organizing the Terry Fox Run so worthwhile, said Goneau.

"We had one little girl who registered and donated $1.45. She probably emptied out her piggy bank," said Goneau. "Then we had a guy who came in and just wrote a cheque for $500."

The local Run has also been blessed with a number of dedicated volunteers including members of the Kiwanis Club who help marshal the event. This year's Terry Fox Run also benefited from a number of student volunteers who are able to count the time they put in toward their community service hours.

Before the start of this year's Run, perennial particpant Nelson Waddell was presented with a certificate from the Terry Fox Foundation commemorating his 25th Terry Fox Run which he took part in last year. He's now at 26 and counting and doesn't plan to stop anytime soon.

"I'm going to keep coming back as long as I'm able to," said Waddell who along with thousands of people around the world continue to carry on Terry Fox's legacy more than a quarter century after he died.

(This story was made possible thanks to the generous support of our local business partners.)

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