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24 >> OUR HOUSE SUMMER 2017 DoMinion LEnDing CEntRES FOUNDATION terry would begin his training route for the Marathon of Hope every day from the home and spend hours mapping his course on the kitchen table. terry also spent his final days in the home before cancer took his life. "it is an important part of our history," Darrell says. the Fox family purchased the home in 1968 for $18,000—unbelievable considering the cost of real estate in the neighbourhood today. it was a brand new build and the first home the family owned. Darrell grew up in the home along with his three other siblings including terry. He spent his formative years in the house. there were countless days of ball hockey, soccer and digging out rocks from the front yard to plant grass. the doors, thanks to family matriarch Betty Fox, were always open to the neighbourhood. But there was certainly pain. terry was diagnosed with a malignant tumour in his leg in 1977 and had the leg amputated at the age of 18. But it didn't slow him down. He would go on to plan his Marathon of Hope to raise money for cancer research and begin running in the spring of 1980. only a few months later, the cancer returned and spread to his lungs. He was forced to quit while traversing northern ontario. He died in June of 1981. Darrell admits he's blocked most of that difficult time out of his mind. the family sold the home and moved in 1984. He said it was hard for his parents to live in the home after his brother's death and it played a role in the family's move. But all these years later, Darrell sees the home in a different, more positive light. "i love to go back there and stand in front of that house and stare at it," he said. "it's hard not to stand in front of it and be brought back in time because it looks so similar. You don't want to live in the past but you want to go back there and cherish those memories." When he goes back to visit his childhood home, he's greeted by the friendly faces of terri and Doug Robertson. the couple currently owns the home. terri bought the Today signs mark the 10-km route of Fox's training runs Current occupants Terri and Doug Robertson (above) learned that they were living in Terry Fox's childhood home long after Terri had bought it. The kitchen and floors have been renovated, but many of the home's other elements look familiar to Terry's brother, Darrell.