'Run Terry Run' does Terry Fox's story justice with never-before-seen footage: Brother
· Toronto Sun
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Darrell Fox was just 17 years old when he joined his 21-year-old brother Terry, who’d lost a leg to cancer in 1977, on his cross-country run, The Marathon of Hope , in 1980 to raise money for cancer research.
Terry, who began in St. John’s, Nfld., ran with determination, often in pain, with the use of a prosthetic leg, but sadly had to quit after 143 days just outside of Thunder Bay, Ont., when the cancer returned to his lungs.
He died in a New Westminster, B.C., hospital on June 28, 1981, at the age of 22.
Now 45 years later, Darrell and the rest of the Fox family are co-executive producers of a new documentary, Run Terry Run , which recently played at TIFF and opens in theatres on Oct. 9.
“I feel that I don’t have to worry about failing every time I share Terry’s story anymore,” said Fox, 65, seated beside the film’s director-editor Sean Menard ( 299 Queen Street West ) during TIFF.
“‘Cause I do. I feel like I’m never doing the story justice. It’s never good enough. I can’t capture the feeling unless you feel what I’m feeling. But now you can with Run Terry Run .”
The real key to the new documentary was finding 96 reels of never-before-seen footage.
“I contacted Darrell and the family and then I asked, ‘Is there anything out there that people haven’t seen?’” said Menard.
“Darrell shared with me reels 5-9. And so I said, ‘Oh, where’s 1-4?’ Cause 5-9 were spectacular. And so it became this search for the missing four. And eventually it led me to a storage facility in Toronto, five streetlights from my house. And I remember I showed up and I thought I was just going to find the four (missing reels). And they said, ‘Did you bring a truck?’ And that’s when I knew; I was like, ‘Oh, wow.’ There were four tables stacked.”
Among those who captured the unseen footage were Canadian Cancer Society freelance cameraman John Simpson, other CBC freelancers and just people with home cameras filming as the Marathon of Hope passed by.
“And at some point someone gathered all of this, I don’t know who, and they stored it in 1984,” said Menard.
Added Fox: “It was likely the Canadian Cancer Society.”
“What a beautiful responsibility as a Canadian filmmaker,” said Menard of the discovery. “It just feels like there’s an energy of people putting Canadian flags out, like Canadian pride. It just seems like another level right now. And it’s always been a by-product of what Terry set out to do – unite the country.”
The documentary captures Terry and his team on the road
In the film, you get a real sense of the relationship between Terry and his best friend, Doug Alward, who was manning the wheel of the van that accompanied him while he ran; Darrell, who came on board in Saint John, N.B. and eventually PR whiz Bill Vigars, who joined the group in Ontario.
“My definition of people in the van were people who had to sleep in the van,” said Fox when I mentioned the four-man brotherhood.
“And Bill never had to sleep in the van. He never went in that van. Why? ‘Cause it stuck to high heaven so he stayed away.”
Darrell entered the scene as a sort of moderator between Terry and Alward.
“He didn’t prepare for living with his best friend 24/7. So if someone else didn’t arrive, there were going to be the Marathon of Hope murder, so that wouldn’t have been good for PR,” he joked.
Eventually, the teamwork made the dream work.
“We got along but we had our differences,” said Darrell. “Both Doug and I knew what the focus was and what our responsibility was. I was there to support my brother at any and all costs; that was number one. And even though, sure, he got frustrated at times, who wouldn’t, right? He’s running 42 kilometres (26 miles) a day. I was there for him to vent to.”
Fox says Menard’s film managed to capture the emotional highs and lows during that time and the lingering power of Terry.
“It moves me still,” he said. “It will always move me to watch someone give unselfishly everything they have for something else, for others. That is pretty amazing. And then to do it so humbly with humility. And to have so much drive and determination, the courage. How he engaged with people. How sincere he was.”
Added Menard: “It also shows why we are so different than other countries. Because that’s our hero. As opposed to other countries, who they lift up and put on pedestals. We look at a guy like Terry Fox. It’s a powerful thing.”