White Rock鈥檚 Bill Vigars is a man with hundreds of personal stories about one of Canada鈥檚 greatest heroes 鈥� Terry Fox.

And he loves sharing them.

鈥淗e changed my life, and I will do everything to keep his legacy alive.鈥�

Vigars, who was Fox鈥檚 publicist, was at SFU Surrey Friday (Sept. 23), sharing stories of the time he spent with Terry more than four decades ago, during the Marathon of Hope.

鈥淭he one thing that people don鈥檛 realize is how nice he was,鈥� Vigars told his audience. 鈥淗e was funny, he was relaxed, he loved kids. He was driven by what happened to him in the hospital.鈥�

Fox would often say, 鈥淚 can quit the run any time I want, but the kids in the hospital can鈥檛,鈥� he recounted.

Vigars, who has never worked for the Terry Fox Foundation, was 33 when he joined the Marathon of Hope. He was responsible for getting the word out about Fox and his historic run. He was working with the Canadian Cancer Society at the time.

The first time he met Fox was on June 9, 1980. He was sent down to Edmundston, New Brunswick, to meet him on his run. Vigars saw how small towns were 鈥渢ransfixed鈥� with Fox when he ran through. He thought to himself, 鈥渋f this guy gets into a populated area, he鈥檒l explode.鈥�

There was really no schedule for the run, although Fox had to be in Ottawa for July 1 and July 11 in Toronto.

Vigars left Edmundston, and for the next three weeks he drove to as many small towns between Toronto and Ottawa, asking them to organize an event for Fox. They all said the same thing, if Fox made it this far, they would organize an event, said Vigars. Each one of these small towns has a monument for Fox.

He set up several events for Fox for when he would run through Toronto 鈥� an appearance at a Blue Jays Game and meeting Bobby Orr.

When Vigars asked Fox how he did it, the young man responded that he took it one telephone pole at a time. 

鈥淗e would run from one pole to another, then so on. He said he could not run 42 kilometres, but could run with the mindset of running from pole to pole.鈥�

Shortly after the cancer returned, invading Fox鈥檚 lungs and forcing him to abandon his cross-Canada run on Sept. 1, 1980, outside Thunder Bay, Ont. Soon after, Vigars spoke with the CBC.

鈥淭his is not the end of the run,鈥� he said at the time. 鈥淚t鈥檚 only the beginning.鈥�

鈥淎nd 42 years later,鈥� he said Friday, 鈥渨e are still here.鈥�

Over $ 850 million has been raised in support of cancer research.

anna.burns@surreynowleader.com
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