"I'm just so grateful for research" – Shelley's story
10
Oct
2024
Shelley Harding is a familiar face at the Terry Fox UK runs. A Canadian, who moved to London 23 years ago, she sells official event T-shirts to raise vital funds for The Institute of Cancer Research. This year she attended Terry Fox Runs in Battersea Park, Hampshire and will be at Wrexham this weekend. Last month she was invited to a special Terry Fox reception at Canada House in London, where Fred Fox spoke about his brother.
Posted on 10 October, 2024
by Shelley Harding
Image: Shelley at the Battersea Park event. Credit: Shelley Harding
“Terry Fox was such a hero to me,” Shelley says. “I grew up as a teenager in Barrie, Ontario, watching him run his Marathon of Hope on the news. He was so inspiring and made quite an impact on me. Then as a young woman, now living in Vancouver in the mid 1980s, I volunteered at The Terry Fox Foundation office and met Terry's mother Betty and younger brother Darrell.
Image: Shelley and her son Tom meet Fred Fox (centre). Credit: Shelley Harding
"Terry never wanted to give up"
“At the Canada House reception Fred Fox – Terry’s older brother – shared Terry’s story from his teenage years. He talked about his tenacity in everything he did, the 18 months of chemotherapy he endured and how he never wanted to give up on his Marathon of Hope. Fred continued by sharing how far and wide the Terry Fox Run has grown, raising $900 million (more than £500 million) for cancer research from all over the world!
“Unfortunately, I have experience with cancer myself as I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010.
“I was stage two, grade two and I’m just so grateful for the research that’s been done, and is being done, at the ICR.
"My treatment was more advanced because of research"
“My aunt had cancer a few years before me and the treatment that I received was more advanced than hers because of research. For example, I was able to have a sentinel node biopsy, which may prevent the need to remove your lymph nodes.
“In my case I needed a mastectomy, chemo, radiotherapy, and then reconstruction surgery. I am so grateful for all the treatment I received, for the NHS, the quality of care and all the hand holding the nurses provided each step of the way.”
Shelley was born in Canada to British parents who both passed away with cancer. She moved to the UK in 2001 and has been here ever since.
“It’s great that the Terry Fox Runs are still going and the money's going to cancer research. Look at all the advances that we've had—it’s amazing.”
Find out more about Terry Fox Runs in the UK.
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