Consider joining the fight against cancer on Sept 18
Woodstock organizing committee expects to raise $20,000 to honour the legacy of the late Bill Gillespie
By
Mark Schadenberg
The
Terry Fox Foundation and the Marathon Of Hope have combined to raise more than
$700 million worldwide in an effort to find a cure for cancer.
Terry
Fox lost his battle with cancer in June of 1981, dying of lung cancer.
At
the age of 17 in 1977, Fox had much of his right leg amputated due to bone
cancer. Fox decided to dedicate himself to raising money and awareness to
battle cancer by training for a cross-country run. If you read his biography,
it would seem that it was a quest with multiple reasons behind it, including
Terry seeing too many children in hospital with cancer, and truly realizing his
purpose could be to raise money for medical research.
During
his Marathon of Hope, which began on April 12, 1980, Fox would run about 42 km
a day – in essence equivalent to a daily marathon (26 miles).
Fox,
who was born in Winnipeg, would almost reach the Manitoba border before ending
his journey on Sept. 1, 1980 due to a diagnosis of lung cancer. The Marathon Of
Hope was 143 days and covered 5,373 km.
Naturally,
the Terry Fox Foundation and the hundreds of Terry Fox Run events every year on
the third Sunday in September continue to build a bridge – connecting cancer
patients to research doctors attempting to find a cure for the dozens of forms
of cancer.
The
Terry Fox Run in Woodstock will have its headquarters at College Avenue
Secondary School on Sept. 18 with registrations beginning at 9 a.m., and the
Run starting at 10 after a short opening ceremony. Participants will be able to
complete one of four distances – 1 km, 2.5, 5 and 10. If you can’t attend by 10
a.m., stop by at noon or even 1:30 p.m. to register. The Run signups continue
until 2 p.m.
The
venue is ideal as the track at CASS is officially called the Terry Fox Memorial
Track.
Pledge
sheets are available at about a dozen locales around Woodstock, including City
Hall, Fritzie’s West End on Perry Street, Green Financial Group on Springbank
North, Main Attraction hair salon on Springbank North, and just about every
bank branch in the community. If you call or email me, I will be sure to
deliver you a pledge form.
The local committee is led by co-chair Peter Ewing and Peter Oswald.
It
is also very easy to register online and then encourage your friends and family
to donate to yourself or your team through the www.terryfox.org
site. (From the Terry Fox Run tab click to Woodstock under site locator).
Also
for pledge sheets, every Saturday morning there is a crew promoting the event
at the Woodstock Fairgrounds farm market.
()()()()()()()()()()()()
Terry
Fox:
“I
don’t feel that this is unfair. That’s the thing about cancer. I’m not the only
one, it happens all the time to people. I’m not special. This just intensifies
what I did. It gives it more meaning. It’ll inspire more people. I just wish
people would realize that anything’s possible if you try; dreams are made
possible if you try.
()()()()()()()()()()()()
The
Terry Fox Run in Woodstock lost its champion to cancer this past March when
Bill Gillespie died at the age of 73.
When
he played competitive basketball with the Woodstock Kings in the 1970’s he wore
No 20, so Kings teammate Peter Ewing is now one of the co-chairs and created
the theme “20 For 20” or let’s raise $20,000 in the memory of Bill Gillespie.
(Sentinel-Review archive photo)
The
Lions Club of Woodstock, which Gillespie was a long-time member, is
coordinating the Terry Fox Run in Woodstock in 2016, but the committee includes
many many volunteers from outside the Lions Club.
Read
my blog link below for more details on exactly who Bill Gillespie was, but he was
a world champion in masters basketball
for Canada, a university basketball player in his youth, along-time coach of
various sports locally at HPSS, and the main organizer behind many many
charitable events including the Captains – Veterans Oxford high school benefit
basketball games.
Among
the corporate partners for the Terry Fox Run are Green Financial Group and
Boston Pizza. At Green Financial, they have challenged other local businesses
to donate, and in-turn Green Financial will match all contributions up to
$5,000. With that announcement, it soon became public that an anonymous donor
will also donate up to $5,000 using the same format. (http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2016/08/10/local-business-volunteers-to-match-corporate-donations-to-the-terry-fox-run-in-honour-of-bill-gillespie)
Terry Fox Run co-chair for 2016 Peter Ewing,
who is a retired basketball player and coach,
long-time friend of Bill Gillespie
and a member of the Lions Club of Woodstock
()()()()()()()()()()()()
Terry
Fox:
“I'm not a dreamer, and I'm not saying this will initiate any
kind of definitive answer or cure to cancer, but I believe in miracles. I have
to.
It took cancer to realize that being self-centered is not the
way to live. The answer is to try and help others.
Even if I don’t finish, we need others to continue. It’s got to
keep going without me.”
()()()()()()()()()()()()
The Terry Fox Run is Sunday, Sept. 18.
It’s an opportunity for Woodstock to say
thanks to the wonderful Bill Gillespie for his determination.
It’s an opportunity to again to pay tribute to Terry Fox for his ability to unite a nation and eventually many other countries
around the world to dedicate a combined effort to find a cure for cancer.
CONTACT:
Peter
Ewing
(519)
537-7462
Email:
pcewing@sympatico.ca
FACEBOOK
The
Terry Fox Run – Woodstock, Ontario
LINKS:
OLDER LINKS:
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All entries in this blog are written by:
Mark Schadenberg
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . .
Destination
