'Natural connection' led to Terry Fox Foundation, Tragically Hip joining forces for film

Terry Fox and The Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie.

The spirits of two inspiring Canadians who left the planet far too soon due to cancer have powerfully joined forces in a new short film, Finish It, which is also the new joint brand platform announced by the Terry Fox Foundation and Terry Fox Research Institute.

The emotional two-minute clip, unveiled on Tuesday at the TIFF Lightbox Theatre before being blasted out on social media networks, shows Fox (a look-a-like whose face was later changed to Fox’s via special effects) jogging up a hill by himself while The Tragically Hip anthem Courage — featuring Downie’s original 1992 vocals with bandmates Paul Langlois and Gord Sinclair — backed by a piano before the runner is joined by hundreds of other people from all walks of life running just as he reaches the top.

There’s also old audio of Fox saying that if he didn’t get to finish the cross-Canada Marathon of Hope in 1980 (which he eventually had to abandon in Thunder Bay, Ont., due to the cancer returning and his death in 1981), he hoped others would. Of course, the annual run to raise money for cancer research and awareness has been going on now for 45 years.

“They came to us with that soundtrack on it,” said The Tragically Hip’s manager Jake Gold at the screening with Downie’s brother Patrick. (A snow storm in Kingston prevented band member Gord Sinclair from making it.)

“And the guys (in the band) were like, ‘This is amazing.’ It’s not lost on us and this is not to compare what Terry did to what Gord did, but there’s a lot of similarities to the extent that the last time the country really came together was the Hip’s final tour (in 2016) and before that it was Terry’s run (in 1980). And the fact that Gord chose to go across the country with cancer (before he died in 2017). Thankfully, he finished.”

The Finish It clip will be seen on TV and in Canadian movie theatres in addition to online via terryfox.org.

Kirsten Fox, the eldest niece of Terry who has been the director of Community Development for B.C. and Yukon at the Terry Fox Foundation for the last 13 years, said they were so pleased to get to use The Hip song for the film.

“It really feels like a natural connection,” said Kirsten, 39, of her uncle and Downie.

“I wasn’t born when Terry was alive or when he passed away, but I’m told stories of how the country grieved and came together when Terry passed away. And I know I experienced that myself when I found out Gord Downie was sick (with cancer). And then, of course, when we lost him (in 2017) and how the country grieved. They were both such loved Canadians and they both did such amazing things for our country and for the world.”

The short film was released on World Cancer Day as cancer researchers, doctors and patients were in attendance on Tuesday to speak about the Marathon of Hope Cancer Centres Network, whose goal is precision oncology given there are 200 types of cancer.

Since its formation, the Terry Fox Foundation has raised almost $1 billion.

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