Journey Bergman, a Yellowknife teen passionate about continuing Terry Fox’s legacy, is raising thousands of dollars for cancer research for her 16th birthday.
Bergman said she first read about Fox and his story before she turned eight years old.
She was struck by how Fox – who was 19 when he ramped up training for his Marathon of Hope – wasn’t that much older than her.
“There was just something about it,” she told Cabin Radio’s Camilla MacEachern and Sarah Erasmus on their show Clams ‘n’ Moose, which airs from 6-8pm each Thursday. “The way he just persevered through everything on one leg and was fighting cancer.”
Fox, now a Canadian icon, embarked on his cross-country run to raise awareness and funding for cancer research in April 1980, after having his right leg amputated due to the disease when he was 18. He was forced to stop his marathon outside Thunder Bay, Ontario in September 1980, when cancer spread to his lungs.
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Fox passed away on June 28, 1981, one month before his 23rd birthday.
Marathons have since been held in his honour across Canada every September to raise funds for cancer research.
This year marks the 45th anniversary of the Terry Fox Run.
Bergman said she began raising funds for the Terry Fox Foundation on her eighth birthday at the suggestion of her mom, after relatives asked what she wanted for the special day
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“I didn’t really need gifts or anything,” she said.
That year, Bergman raised $800. Every birthday since then, she said, the amount of money raised has increased. To date, she has donated more than $13,000 to the Terry Fox Foundation.
For her 16th birthday, Bergman – a Grade 11 student at Sir John Franklin High School – hoped to raise $1,600.
As of Thursday, she had more than met that goal. An online fundraiser showed her team’s total at $2,300 and counting.
This year’s Terry Fox Run in Yellowknife is set to take place on Sunday, September 14 at the Yellowknife Multiplex gym. Registration opens at 11am and the marathon begins at noon.
Volunteers will hand out water and encourage participants as they complete routes over one, three, five or 10 kilometres.
Yellowknife resident Lloyd Henderson, who has been running the Marathon of Hope since 1984, will be among this year’s participants.
Organizers of the Yellowknife marathon said the city was a top Canadian participant last year, raising $15,000.
People can donate to the 2025 Yellowknife Terry Fox Run through the Terry Fox Foundation’s website.
