CARLYLE — When Terry Fox lost his leg to osteogenic sarcoma, a form of cancer, in 1977 at the age of 18, he underwent months of treatment.
He found he could not ignore the suffering people went through in cancer wards and decided to run across Canada through the Marathon of Hope to raise awareness and money for cancer research. Forty-five years later, it is still going strong.
When Terry could no longer do the walk, he said “Even if I do not finish, we need others to continue.”
Darrell Fox, Terry's youngest brother, wanted to do something extraordinary this year to mark the 45th anniversary of the Marathon of Hope, and so he has been cycling across Canada through the Ride of Hope.
People could apply to be part of the trip and four people from British Columbia and four people from Ontario gathered in southwest B.C. to start the journey.
Fox, Adam Belanger, Juschka Clarke, Charlene Eden, Bill Jackes, Russ McCann, Ryan Saunders and Joel Stoliker have all lost a friend or family member to cancer. Their quest began with training for the many kilometres they were going to travel on bicycles to get to St. John’s, where the Ride of Hope will end.
Mina Shahsavar came on as the nurse, and Wendy-Jo Kennedy is a registered massage therapist. Nikki Rekman is the Ride of Hope co-ordinator. Devon Pinchak is the bike mechanic, while Mike Smith is the route director.
Bonnie Fox, Darrell’s wife, is the support crew member, and Declan Koster is the photographer along the way.
As the team entered each province, a group of police officers met at the border and took over.
When the group came to Saskatchewan, Constables Jamie Gray, Garth Tomaschefski and Saketh Katragadda, Staff Sgt. Darren MacDougal, and RCMP officers J.P. Martin and Ernest Impey met the riders at the Alberta-Saskatchewan border and escorted the cyclist to the Manitoba border.
They have a very tight itinerary and cycle on average 220 kilometres per day. They landed in Carlyle on June 18 at the Happy Gang Club, where the Carlyle District Lions Club hosted a special evening for them.
Each member of the team was introduced.
They enjoyed a meal the Lions had prepared, and then a question and answer session occurred.
Nearly 60 people were in attendance. They had many questions on training, what foods they took along and how many tires the team was going to go through. Each rider will use five to six tires on the trip.
Their trip had been pretty smooth sailing until they reached Regina and were caught in a downpour. They took refuge under an overpass.
Fox said they have set a goal of raising $1 million on the adventure and they had already raised $850,000.
The Carlyle District Lions Club donated $1,000 and the Regina 35 Lions Club donated $500 to the cause.
They needed to be in Winnipeg in a couple of days for a special ceremony, as this is where Terry was born; they then had to be in Thunder Bay, Ont., a couple of days later for another memorial service.
On June 29, they need to be in Richmond Hill, Ont., and on July 1 they have been invited to Ottawa’s Canada Day festivities.
July 9 is to be the day they arrive in St. John’s for another celebration after travelling more than 7,000 kilometres.
The eagerly agreed that Saskatchewan rolled out the welcome wagon, and they were pleased to be in the province.
Anyone wishing to follow the Ride for Hope or to bike with them for a short time can go to Terry Fox.org for more information.
