Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Sep 16/02) - As co-chairs of the Terry Fox run committee, Rob and Katherine McPhee worked tirelessly this summer.

What motivates them is the desire to help find a cure for cancer and raise awareness about the disease.

Yellowknifelife: How has cancer affected your life?

Rob McPhee: We've had some cancer issues in our family. Even prior to this, it was evident cancer is a fairly pervasive disease in our society. About 13 years ago, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a full mastectomy and treatment and is doing fine. There's been no reoccurrence or any problems because it was caught early on. She's 79 years old now.

Four years ago, my sister-in-law was diagnosed with what started as breast cancer but spread to bone and brain cancer. From the day she was diagnosed to the day she died was six months. She was 47 years old.

So we've seen how it can go both ways. We've seen what treatment can do if it's caught in time and also what the results are if you don't catch things in time.

Yellowknifelife: Is it those experiences that led you to get involved in the Terry Fox run?

Rob: We were involved for a few years before our sister died.

Katherine McPhee: When I was in charge of the Terry Fox run in Kimmirut, what struck me was that we lived in a 350-person community and when I started promoting the Terry Fox run, people were keen. It really struck me that this is important to everyone.

Rob: That's one of the reasons we are involved. It's not just our personal experience. It's so pervasive in society these days. If you don't have an experience immediately in your family, you don't have to look too far to find someone who does.

Katherine: I think of (my sister's) death and how quick it was -- (it) really rejuvenated us in our interest.

Yellowknifelife: What piqued your interest in the run initially?

Rob: I guess feeling that you are helping people to find answers for cancer. The other thing that draws everybody to the event is that people really identify with Terry Fox. I think that's what draws in 300-plus people in Yellowknife. He's an incredible character. He's a Canadian icon.

Katherine: Both of us also went to university in Thunder Bay, Ont., where Terry Fox stopped his run. There's a monument there we went to quite regularly. The monument itself is phenomenal. When you look at it, you can't help but have tears in your eyes reading about him and looking at this monument. For those of us who watched the updates of his run every day on television, looking at the life-size monument really brings home what the run is all about. That always sticks in my mind.

Rob: There's another reason why we got involved. People to a certain degree either knowingly or unknowingly choose certain lifestyles that can be either pro or anti-cancer lifestyles.

We make a lot of decisions in our life -- often around smoking and exercise -- that affect our risk. Given that, we are not only trying to raise money for the Terry Fox Foundation for a cure for cancer, we are also trying to raise awareness of how to minimize the risk of getting cancer.

Katherine: That's not to say it's fool-proof, but there are some things you can take control over.

Rob: Certainly if smoking is reduced and if people get a moderate amount of exercise, the cancer rates in society are absolutely guaranteed to decrease.

Yellowknifelife: Where does the money go?

Rob: With the exception of very low administration costs, 100 per cent of the money goes to fund research to find a cure for cancer.

Sometimes people question that. I was at a speaking engagement recently and some of the questions from the floor were: Is it the best thing to be putting money towards finding a cure for cancer? Could you use that money for people who have already been diagnosed ... to make their life more comfortable?

The underpinnings of that is Terry Fox had a very single, very focused desire to find the cure for cancer.

There's another part to the question of funding: is it doing any good or is the money just going into something and no progress is being made? I spoke to a lady from Yellowknife a couple days ago. About 10 years ago she was diagnosed with the same kind of bone cancer Terry Fox had. She also had it in her leg. She was able to receive very successful treatment, whereas 10 years ago it killed Terry Fox.

So does the money do good things? Sure it does. But it's not an instant thing.

Yellowknifelife: Do kids these days know about Terry Fox?

Katherine: The Terry Fox foundation has done a phenomenal job with the school program. Betty Fox (Terry Fox's mother) is the biggest ambassador of the school program. She goes into schools teaching about the Terry Fox story. So, in Southern Canada, there's a lot of awareness of who Terry Fox is. In the North, it's not quite as prevalent. But we hope to change that.

Rob: It's not only the fact that kids can get together and donate money for a cancer cure, but it's the lessons they learn. Kids like heros. And what lessons do you learn from Terry Fox as a hero? He's not Batman or Superman. He's a real-life person who did phenomenal things in terms of athleticism and how he approached life -- which was if you're got a great big challenge in front of you, do you cower? Are you a victim? Or do you dig deep and see what the best thing is to do about it?

The idea of who Terry Fox is and what he did is based on a person who had grit. He wasn't some flashy guy with a big marketing campaign ... and the Terry Fox foundation is a lean, mean gritty organization that puts everything they can into cancer research. That's what he wanted. To this day, the Terry Fox Foundation reflects who Terry Fox was.

Yellowknifelife: Is there any thing else you want people to know about?

Rob: I guess what we want people to think about is the fact that cancer is very prevalent in our society. We'd like people to be a little more conscious about the fact that there's a really high risk it will impact their lives or their close families lives. What can people generally do to take a proactive approach instead of just saying we'll deal with it when the time comes and hope someone else looks after things? People spend a lot of time and resources planning their retirement, but generally people don't think about their long-term health. We're asking people to look after themselves (now) ... (and) in retirement.