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th ei fp .c a Th e IF P -H al to n H ill s | T hu rs da y, Ju ne 28 ,2 01 8 | 14 Georgetown's trusted choice for hearing care 360 Guelph St., Unit 44 Georgetown (In the Knolcrest Centre) 905.877.8828 Armstrong Ave Delrex Blvd Try before you buy! At Halton Audiometric Centre, we are committed to your hearing healthcare. To find out if hearing aids are right for you, come in for a complimentary assessment and try the latest digital hearing aids risk free! Longtime Georgetown resi- dent Stephen Dame has been an admirer of Terry Fox for his en- tire life. When he was only five months old, he watched as Terry ran by his carriage on Highway 7 in Georgetown. His mother still tells him the story. Then as a student in town, he par- ticipated in Terry Fox runs with his elemen- tary and high schools. Later on, after moving to Ot- tawa, he used Terry as inspira- tion to whip himself into shape, losing 90 pounds and eventually gaining the strength and endur- ance to run 13 kilometres on a regular basis. "I would keep picturing Terry as I was running, thinking, if he can do that, I can do this," he said. "And I would run down to the Terry Fox statue on Parlia- ment Hill and touch his foot for good luck every day." Dame says he's been running ever since. Today, Dame lives in George- town with his family. He has been organiz- ing the Terry Fox Run in town for the past four years. "I think that while Terry knew that he was dying, he essentially said this can't end with me, this has to go on, and so I feel a bit of an obliga- tion to him to be honest," Dame said. This year however, it's not only about the run. Dame will be taking his 5- year-old son Conrad with him on a journey he has wanted to take for quite some time. The pair will be travelling from Georgetown to Thunder Bay, Ont., beginning July 3, stopping to run at sites that Ter- ry ran through on his Marathon of Hope. Dame says he plans to visit the Terry Fox memorial in Thunder Bay, as well as the last- mile marker just before that. "We're going to get out and try to run in as many of the ma- jor stops, like Sault Ste. Marie and Wawa and Terrace Bay and then we'll run the last little bit from Thunder Bay, which may be emotional," Dame said. The journey is expected to take six days and Dame says he and Conrad will be document- ing their travels via Twitter (@foxrungtown) and he hopes to use their adventure to inspire more people to participate in Georgetown's 2018 run, taking place on Sept. 16 at the Gellert Community Centre. Dame says the event means a lot to him personally, and that this year the run will see Georgetown topping the $400,000 mark for the amount of funds raised in total since 1981. "I think that a lot of the peo- ple who show up and participate every year are doing it to, of course, find a cure to this terri- ble disease, but also to keep Ter- ry's journey going, to keep his mission alive until we find a cure," Dame said. "It means a great deal." COMMUNITY Georgetown father and son to trace Terry Fox's steps to Thunder Bay Stephen Dame and his son Conrad pose alongside a poster of Terry at Georgetown's Terry Fox Run in 2017. Stephen Dame/photo VERONICA APPIA vappia@metroland.com "I would keep picturing Terry as I was running, thinking, if he can do that, I can do this." - Stephen Dame