The spirit of persistence and compassion were fully on display at Crossroads Public School this past Friday during the annual Terry Fox Run.

When The Lake Report arrived early last Friday morning, 12 and 13-year-old students were helping their younger peers find their stride.

Or not, as some of the older students gave piggy-back rides to the younger ones.

“Terry Fox really gave a lot of people all over the world motivation to like keep pushing,” said 13-year-old Kayla Steed.

Kayla was running for three people this year: an aunt and two family friends.

Kayla said her friend Riley and aunt Judy both died of cancer.

Her aunt was 43 and Riley was 13 when they died.

Mackenzie, another friend, died of suicide.

“It was really tough because growing up she was also my neighbour. She was a family friend,” Kayla said.

Terry Fox’s determination in his Marathon of Hope – of which he completed 5,373 kilometres before his spreading cancer forced him to prematurely end the run  – reminded Kayla of the endurance needed to survive the struggles of cancer and depression.

Madison Dubroy was running this year for her grandmother, Darlene, who survived a bout of cancer.

Twelve-year old Dubroy said she couldn’t remember the type of cancer her grandmother beat.

Her friend Rachel Falk, age 11, said she was also running for Madison’s grandmother.

Emily Josiak was there running for her neighbour, Vic, who she said had died of lung cancer.

“He did not – sadly – make it through,” 12-year-old Emily said.

Emily said her neighbour used to visit her family almost every day.

Ruby Krake, a Grade 8 teacher at Crossroads, told The Lake Report the run had been organized by the senior students this year.