Iris Tweedy, 92, was the star of the show at Sunday’s annual Osoyoos Terry Fox Run. Despite her age and being confined to her scooter, Tweedy finished the five-kilometre course and helped raise more than $450 for the Canadian Cancer Society. Tweedy said she believes people are capable of overcoming many obstacles if they have willpower and determination. (Trevor Nichols photo)
This year’s Terry Fox Run in Osoyoos was a somewhat low-key affair, but that didn’t stop one participant from making a big impact.
Ninety-two-year-old Iris Tweedy was the star of this year’s event. She turned heads by raising $450 for cancer research and travelling the complete five-kilometre distance on her trusty electric scooter.
Tweedy has been in the scooter for years and only recently recovered from hip replacement surgery.
But on Sunday morning, after finishing the course, said she wasn’t about to let any of that stop her.
She explained that if people “are the kind that want to do something” they would find a way no matter what obstacles they face.
Tweedy places herself firmly into that category.
She said that after being inspired by others who had run the Terry Fox Race while battling cancer or other illnesses, she was inspired to take part herself.
“I thought jeez, just because I can’t walk I’ve got to do something,” she recalled.
In Tweedy’s mind, Terry Fox is “a hero.”
Fox, a cancer survivor who had part of one leg amputated as a teenager, became a Canadian hero after attempting to run across the country to raise money for cancer research.
He died halfway through his “Marathon of Hope” when the cancer returned, but ever since his death a charity run to raise money for cancer research has taken place across the country – and around the world -in his honour.
This year was the 35th anniversary of the run.
Fox died at the tender age of 21.
“It was unfortunate that he was cut short, but it is just tremendous that something was made of the effort that he did do,” Tweedy said. “So often a person when they have to stop halfway through something they’re finished, but he wasn’t. He was just started. He started everything.”
Like so many others, Tweedy has a long list of people she’s lost to cancer: a sister, a sister-in-law, so many that “there’s no sense” in listing them all, she said.
Participating in the Terry Fox Run is a wonderful way of honouring them and also a way to support a great cause she strongly believes in.
Kelly Law, the program supervisor at the Sonora Community Centre who organized this year’s run, was impressed with Tweedy.
Joking that she raised “10 times more money than anyone else”, she said she was inspired by Tweedy’s good humour and willingness to take part.
“She’s awesome,” Law said.
According to Law, the close to 40 participants (many of whom were Osoyoos Coyotes hockey players) raised hundreds of dollars through the Terry Fox Run.
Law was also “pleasantly surprised” with the turnout, considering the event happened at the same time as some other big events like the Rock Creek Fall Fair.
Tweedy is already looking forward to participating in next year’s Terry Fox Run.
TREVOR NICHOLS
Osoyoos Times
