There was a brisk breeze and bright sunshine Sunday as 10,000 walkers and runners crossed the Confederation Bridge, doing their part to raise money for the annual Terry Fox Run — 30 years after Fox's cross-country trek was tragically cut short.
Fred Fox, Terry's older brother, was among those who crossed the 13-kilometre span over the Northumberland Strait.
He said it was an emotional moment as the group from the P.E.I. side met the group that started on the New Brunswick side.
"Everybody was cheering everybody on," he said in an interview afterward, sipping water in the shadow of the bridge on the New Brunswick side.
"It was a pretty cool experience."
The Terry Fox Foundation says the annual event, which has become one of the largest cancer research fundraisers in the world, has raised almost $500 million over the years.
That money has been used to make important breakthroughs in the fight against cancer, Fred Fox said.
On Sunday, he marvelled at the number of walkers and runners wearing red Terry's Team T-shirts, signifying they are cancer survivors.
"It's a testament to how cancer research is working ... People are surviving their cancer and living longer," he said.
"It's pretty rewarding when you get people coming up to you and saying, 'I'm a live today because of what Terry did in 1980 ... It's pretty incredible to hear people express that."
Fred Fox, only 14 months older than his famous brother, said he was thinking of Terry when he was crossing the bridge.
"We did everything when we were together," he said. "He liked to stay active and compete all the time... We challenged each other to do our best."
Many others have followed Terry Fox's journey from the start, including Bruce Moore, his high school soccer coach.
"He was an average kid who did extraordinary things," Moore said in an interview, adding that Terry Fox was a gifted athlete who also played basketball and rugby.
"He was a good student who was on the honour role ... But he was very quiet, and always the first one on the field and the last one off. He led by example, rather than make a lot of noise."
Moore and his family ran in the first September event in 1981 and have taken part or helped to organize every run since then in Fox's hometown of Port Coquitlam, B.C.
Moore, who's now 70, was later diagnosed with cancer. He says he strongly believes he's still alive because of the money raised from Terry Fox's legacy.
Terry Fox was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer when he was 18. His right leg was later amputated 15 centimetres above the knee.
Three years later, wearing a new leg made of steel rods and a plastic bucket, he was ready to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.
On April 12, 1980, he dipped his artificial leg into St. John's harbour to mark the beginning of his Marathon of Hope.
His trademark hop-skip gait took him through six provinces, running the equivalent of a marathon every day — 42 kilometres.
But the country was shocked in September 1980 when word came that cancer had spread to his chest.
The young man was forced to stop his run in Thunder Bay, Ont. He died 10 months later, a month short of his 23rd birthday.
His 143-day marathon, covering 5,373 kilometres, still stands as an incredible feat that has inspired millions of people around the world.
— By Michael MacDonald in Halifax