10-year-old raises $1,600

A 10-year-old boy set out to follow in the footsteps of Terry Fox and raised nearly $1,600 for the B.C. Cancer Foundation by running from Salmon Arm to Enderby.

Jack McNeil, a grade 5 student at Bastion elementary, was so inspired after learning about Terry Fox that he decided he needed to do something to make a difference.

“Jack knows both victims and survivors of cancer," explained Lana McNeil, Jack’s mother. "So he wanted to do something like what Terry had done and raise money to help people that are affected by cancer.”

Jack’s original idea was to run from Salmon Arm to Vancouver, but parents Lana and Sgt. Murray McNeil, of the Sicamous RCMP, were able to help steer him towards a more achievable goal.

They settled on a more reasonable 23 kilometre run from Salmon Arm to Enderby.

It was determined that Lana would run alongside Jack for safety, and they would break up the run over two days.

“I said it'd probably be easier on you and obviously mom to run it in two different sprints,” she explained.

On Friday, Nov. 8, Jack and his mom set out on the first 11-kilometre leg of their route, running from Shuswap General Hospital to Mellors Country Supermarket.

“The first day, it was perfect weather,” she recalled. “It was dry, the pavement was dry, and it was kind of on the chillier side, so it worked out really well.”

Jack coloured his own custom t-shirt that said "Jack runs 4 Cancer Research" on the front, and "BC Cancer Foundation" on the back.

When they ran the second leg the next day, Saturday, Nov. 9, the weather was not quite as cooperative.

“When we started at Mellors… we got out of the truck and it was already raining,” she said. “We started out wet and by the time we got to Sutherland's bakery in Enderby, we were both just soaked.”

Still, the rainy weather could not dampen Jack’s spirit.

“At the Enderby bakery, we had friends and family, one of his little friends showed up there as well to cheer him on and we also had Enderby RCMP there,” she said. “When he saw the flashing lights, he literally left me in the dust.”

“He was like all right mom, I'm running,” she added. “And he just sprinted.”

Lana said Jack did not do much training before the run as he already had pretty good cardio fitness from hockey and competitive swimming. When they were planning the run they looked into the easiest way to fundraise for cancer research, and the BC Cancer Foundation was quick to respond.

“I reached out to a couple of cancer societies and BC Cancer Foundation replied right away back to us,” she explained.

A representative from The BC Cancer Foundation set them up with a donation page.

“It was really easy to do it, and she was very supportive, so we're really appreciative of that,” she added.

Lana said her whole family is proud of Jack's amazing accomplishment.

“Both my husband and I are really proud, and his sister is really proud of him, too.”

She added they also appreciate the community support Jack has received in his journey, they have long surpassed his initial goal of raising $500.

“Initially that was our target, and we surpassed that before we even started running,” she said. “And then when we did start running, we surpassed $1,000.”

As of the writing of this article, Jack has raised $1,580 and he hopes to gather a few more donations before he runs his final five kilometres this weekend.

The final route will go from the Shuswap General Hospital down the Trans-Canada Highway to DeMille's Farm Market on the west side of Salmon Arm.

“It’s kind of inspirational to us too, like this little guy of ours set out a really big challenge for himself,” Lana said. “He just kept saying, I'm doing this. I'm going to do it.”

Outside of hockey and a passion for Terry Fox, Jack is also an avid writer.

“He does a lot of mini comic books, and I probably have I don't know how many stacks of his books that he's done over the years,” she said.

“I don't know what's up next. It's going to be as much of a surprise to anybody else as it will to us, but whatever he comes up with, like the run, we'll be there to back him on it and help him achieve it.”