10-year-old Emilie van den Hout (R) with Terry Fox's brother Darrell, who will be a special guests at van den Hout's 'Friends of Fox' second annual fundraiser in Oceanside on June 12. (Submitted)

By Jordan Davidson

Friends of Fox

‘It’s very special to me:’ Oceanside girl hosting annual Terry Fox fundraiser

Jun 10, 2024 | 1:13 PM

QUALICUM BEACH — A local girl is getting ready to host another big fundraiser to help find a cure for cancer, and she’s only 10 years old.

Emilie van den Hout, who attends Arrowview Elementary School, first heard the story of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope from her first-grade teacher, where she was immediately drawn into the story.

“Eventually, we got further on to the video and it showed that he had cancer, and I found that really interesting. In my brain, I was like, ‘what’s cancer? How does it happen? Why did this man get it? Why didn’t his brother get it? Is it some sort of thing his parents had?’ and I just wanted to learn more and more and more.”

From there, she took it upon herself to learn more about Terry and managed to raise around $500 by soliciting donations through the Terry Fox Foundation’s website.

From a very young age, van den Hout became inspired to help while learning about Terry Fox’s journey to find a cure for cancer. (Submitted)

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This year, van den Hout is stepping it up a notch, hosting an invite-only fundraising event on Wednesday, June 12 at the Qualicum Beach Inn from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m.

Inspired by her first fundraising effort when she was six, van den Hout expanded the following year, going door-to-door for donations and hosting a driveway fundraising in her home selling homemade goods like cookies, bracelets, and dog treats.

She raised over $2,500 in both 2021 and 2022, before collecting over $5,500 in 2023 when she held her first indoor event.

“My mom got tired of doing driveway fundraisers, so she decided to throw an event. She had a big step up there.”

van den Hout sets up out front of her Qualicum Beach home, selling homemade goods to support cancer research. (Submitted)

This year’s event will include a silent auction, door prizes, and special guests, including Terry Fox’s brother Darrell, who was also in attendance last year.

van den Hout first reached out to Darrell four years ago in a letter, which began their unique friendship, including a trip to the BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum together to view Terry’s display.

“I sent him a letter when I was very young, when I was six, and I said in the letter, ‘thank you for supporting Terry Fox as much as I do.’ He replied and he gave me a stack of Terry books and we just kept sending letters back and forth.”

Darrell even sent van den Hout a video message wearing an original ‘Marathon of Hope’ shirt while she was recovering at home from COVID-19 on her birthday.

She said she has no plans to stop fundraising for the Terry Fox Foundation anytime soon, inspired by his last words of wanting the Marathon of Hope to continue after he passed away.

“It’s very special to me cause…so many people are dying every single day and it’s so sad, and I want a cure for that.”

This year she hopes to raise at least $10,000 for the Terry Fox Foundation.

More information on how you can be a part of the event can be found here at foxsfriends.ca.

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jordan@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @JordanDHeyNOW