Meet the Writers: Allison Webster and Lauraine Woods

This blog started out as a response to the current COVID-19 situation as a way to tell important stories that you won’t find in the local newspaper. I wanted to launch a project that would profile people from the past and present who have made this run what it is today – an extraordinary community event for an extraordinary Canadian – Terry Fox. His dream was to cure cancer – all cancers. And those who have volunteered your time or given a dollar or more are all part of the Marathon of Hope.

While you might have some inklings about us so far. Many of our readers likely know us, or know of us. But if you’re new, I’d like to introduce ourselves to you.

Allison Webster

Allison Webster

My first Terry Fox Run was in elementary school. My Grade 1 teacher had a daughter who lost an eye to cancer. My first experience of knowing someone with cancer was also in childhood. I saw a dear family friend slowly die from cancer after a surgery “didn’t get it all.” I was scared. He scared me. Cancer scared me.

In my teens, my own father was diagnosed with colon cancer and received a life-saving surgery. Later on, my uncle was diagnosed with bone cancer and beat it. My neighbour Margaret, who was like a second mother to us neighbourhood kids, had and beat breast cancer. I consider myself lucky that many of my loved ones have survived, yet there is still so much loss.

So, why did I start a blog? Here’s a bit about my background. I have a H.B.A. in Professional Writing from York University. I have experience writing for a local magazine and working for a large media company in their digital division. As a freelance writer, I blog, write content for websites, produce press releases and other written communications for my clients.

I joined the Terry Fox Run Committee in 2014 and wrote an article on behalf of the committee for the Burlington Post. I continued my role, providing written communication for the committee when needed, while lending a hand in many other ways. This blog is my biggest project yet since joining the committee.

I’m proud of the hard work I’ve put into building this blog. It’s taken many hours doing Zoom interviews, sourcing photos, writing the posts and sending them out for fact-checking and proofing. It’s called Terry Fox Lives in Burlington as a play on the foundation’s “Terry Fox Lives Here” campaign. To me, it means he lives in the hearts of many Burlingtonians – providing us with hope and determination.

I couldn’t have done this alone. New member Lauraine Woods saw what I was doing and offered to help. I was grateful, as I knew that I couldn’t tell every story all on my own. Thank you, Lauraine. You’re great at giving feedback and checking my grammar. You also have written some pretty powerful pieces yourself.

Lauraine Woods

Lauraine Woods

Lauraine Woods was a freelance feature writer for the Hamilton Spectator in the early 2000s, before moving into administrative roles with Oakville Meals on Wheels and the National Newspaper Awards. 

As a retirement project, she started the Buskers ukulele band, which performed at the halfway point of the 2019 Burlington run. 

In this year of the virtual run, she helped out with some features for Terry Fox Lives in Burlington, and walked with her daughter along Lakeshore Road on September 20, to remember Terry this year.

What’s Next?

This blog isn’t ending. In fact, 2020 was just the beginning. I’d like to build on what we’ve done. For the post-run off-season, I will be doing 1 to 2 posts a month to keep it alive. Then by end of March, early April 2021, I plan to ramp it back up gradually when we reconvene to plan the 41st Terry Fox Run.

THANK YOU BURLINGTON!