Cancer crusader Betty Fox to have public funeral

Betty Fox, the mother of cancer research activist Terry Fox, will be remembered at a public funeral on Saturday afternoon at Trinity United Church in Port Coquitlam, B.C.

Fox died last Friday at the age of 73 in Chilliwack, B.C.

Her family expects a large audience and is asking members of the public who want to attend to RSVP in advance to bettyfoxservice@gmail.com.

Betty Fox's second-eldest son, Terry, was a cancer survivor who vowed to raise money for research by running across Canada in 1980, but his Marathon of Hope ended when his cancer returned and he died June 28, 1981.

For more than three decades, Betty Fox kept her son's cancer-fighting legacy alive by organizing runs, raising funds and playing a role in the opening of a foundation and research institute.