Thirty-three participants, including 18 members of the Osoyoos Coyotes hockey team, are seen embarking on a 10-kilometre trek around Osoyoos, starting at the Sonora Community Centre in Osoyoos this past Sunday morning for the annual Terry Fox Run. A total of $1,785 was raised in this year’s event, which honours the legendary Canadian hero who was halfway finished his Marathon of Hope to run across Canada on one leg and a prosthetic leg when his cancer returned back in 1981. (Dan Walton photo)
Selena Shemilt mom’s 55th birthday would have been last Saturday, but she didn’t get to celebrate it – instead she was running in her honour at the Osoyoos Terry Fox Run.
In memory of her mother, whose name was Franciska, Shemilt adopted a puppy and named it Frankie.
And at Sunday’s Terry Fox Run in Osoyoos, Frankie looked like the participant most excited about being a participant in a 10-kilometre hike around town.
Shemilt said battling cancer like her mother did so bravely is a dismal and heartbreaking process.
Her mother was first diagnosed with cancer eight years before she died. After five years of aggressive treatment, doctors told her she would be fine.
However, the cancer returned much more aggressively in 2014 and by that point very few treatment options were available.
“We did a bone scan and that’s when they found out there was so much more there,” Shemilt said. “It was in her lungs and all of her lymph nodes. Her lymph nodes were growing and blocking off her esophagus and suffocating her, that’s why she was coughing so much.”
After just one round of chemotherapy, her mom’s red blood cell count was detected as being too low.
The following week, she was told she had just two weeks to live.
“We went into hospice in Keremeos on Friday, and she passed away on Tuesday morning.”
Shemilt’s husband is an avid runner who was raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario – the community where Fox’s Marathon of Hope came to an end.
It was the loss of her mother that pushed Shemilt to become more involved in the fight against cancer.
She also ran in the Daffodil Dash last spring and furthered her education on preventative measures.
“They should be doing yearly MRIs for people with the same illness as her,” she said. “My mom had all the signs of reoccurring cancer.”
Even though it’s critically important to detect cancer as early as possible, Shemilt feels juxtaposed and worries about compromising her quality of life by being over cautious.
After her mother’s death, her family doctor suggested she undergo regular mammograms, thorough bone scans and blood work.
“I’m 32, leave me alone right now,” she said.
“But then I’m thinking, what if…”
Shelmilt said she will rely on earlier medical advice to begin regular mammograms at the age of 35.
Shemilt and Frankie were joined by 32 other Terry Fox Run participants Sunday morning.
Eighteen of the participants were members of the Osoyoos Coyotes, who made it in time for the 9 a.m. start despite arriving home around 3 a.m. from a game in 100 Mile House the night before.
Their 10-kilometre loop around town started and finished at the Sonora Community Centre.
This year’s event raised $1,785; $710 collected the day of the event and $1,075 online, according to event co-ordinator Sarah Dynneson, who is a recreation program director for the Town of Osoyoos.
The Terry Fox Run has helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars for cancer research in Canada and around the world in the 35 years since the legendary Canadian hero died when cancer halted his Marathon of Hope back in 1981.
Millions of Canadians in thousands of communities across the country once again participated in the Terry Fox Run on Sunday.
There are now Terry Fox Runs in dozens of countries around the world and on several continents.
More than three decades after his death, Fox remains an iconic figure in Canada as numerous polls have named him as one of the most popular figures in Canadian history.
DAN WALTON
Regional Reporter
