Betty Fox Dies

In the three decades since she was last able to give her son Terry a hug, Betty Fox showed her love in a different way. "We must continue on, following Terry's lead, and his example of never, ever giving up" she said of keeping his dream to beat cancer alive.

Now, a week and a half shy of the 30th anniversary of his death, the Fox Family is comforted by the knowledge she is once again by his side - posting a statement announcing her death at 8:25 this morning:

"Betty/Mom passed away peacefully surrounded by love. Betty was comfortable the last few weeks and months of her life, was always full of wit and rarely alone. Our wife and mom is now with Terry and joins other dear family members that predeceased her."




And now Canadians join in celebrating the life of the woman who, after first disapproving of her son's idea to run a marathon a day, across the country, on one leg later became his biggest supporter. "I'm sad, that's sad, that's kind of a legacy there. She really tried to carry his name forward and keep up the good work" says one man in downtown Victoria Friday.

At Victoria's Mile Zero monument to Terry Fox, admirers reflect on the family's global impact. "Her son Terry, nobody's raised more money to fight cancer than him. His legacy is worldwide."

Betty Fox helped found The Terry Fox Foundation, which has raised about $500 million for cancer research, and kick started the cancer-fighting career of people like Vancouver researcher Torsten Nielson, handing him a "New Investigator" award when he was fresh out of school. "Which I used to set up my very first laboratory, to start my research ideas that kept going and are now at the point of going to clinical trials to see if we can cure some people who used to be incurable" says Nielson.

Just the kind of progress Terry, and Betty lived for.


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