You could have heard a pin drop in the Pontiac High School gymnasium on Thursday morning as the several hundred students who had packed it listened attentively to former classmate Olivier Muratori-Dousett share his experience battling cancer over the past two years.

The students were gathered for the school’s annual Terry Fox Run before they began their 10-kilometre walk, jog, roller skate or bike ride around the neighbourhood. Muratori-Dousset, who graduated from the school in June, spoke of all that he has endured since first being diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a rare and aggressive bone cancer, when he was 15 years old.

He opened up about what it was like to lose his luscious waist-length locks when he began chemotherapy, what it was like to lose his right leg from the knee-down to the same type of cancer that killed Terry Fox, and what it was like to lose friends to the disease.

“The reason I do these speeches is because I don’t want anyone else to go through this suffering that me and my friends did, and that Terry did, because no one deserves this,” he said, emphasizing he would not have been able to be at PHS, giving this speech, had it not been for the national cancer awareness and fundraising campaign Terry Fox launched with his cross-country run, the Marathon of Hope, in 1980.

Students applaud after former PHS student Olivier Muratori-Dousett opened up about his journey fighting osteosarcoma, a rare and aggressive bone cancer he was diagnosed with at 15 years old. Photo: Sophie Kuijper Dickson.

He highlighted the importance of fundraising work like that the students had taken on as part of this year’s event in continuing to advance cancer research.

“Who here knows someone with cancer?” he asked, in response to which almost every student in the gym raised their hand.

“That’s why we run,” Muratori-Dousset said.

When he was finished sharing his story, students migrated outside to the run’s start line and were soon setting off on the circuit they had committed to completing.

By lunch time, the 300 or so students had returned to the high school for the fundraiser barbecue, the food for which had been donated by local businesses.

“It’s so amazing to see the community and the kids supporting [this cause] and enjoying each other,” said teacher and run organizer Tara Fitzpatrick. “Words can’t really describe it right, it’s just such a great day.”

PHS student James Barber-Stewart pies teacher Lindsay Woodman in the face, the prize Woodman offered her students after they successfully met their fundraising goal of $150. Photo submitted: Tara Fitzpatrick.

She said between the barbecue and online donations, the even raised $2,045 for cancer research.

This includes $150 raised by students of teacher Lindsay Woodman, who promised they could pie her in the face if they hit that fundraising target.

Fitzpatrick said because of the generosity of local businesses and members of the community, the school was able to collect enough ingredients to host a second fundraiser barbecue, so she expects the final amount raised to be higher.

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