Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope lives on at Cochrane's tri-schools. 

On Sept. 27, the annual Terry Fox School Run saw students of Elizabeth Barrett Elementary, Manachaban Middle and Cochrane High make their annual loop to keep the memory of Terry alive and carry on his dream of conquering cancer. The Cochrane High School students and staff continue to go that extra mile to rally around the cause with a thought-provoking and mindful assembly.

The heart-shaped stone found near the last steps of Terry Fox was used as the central symbol of an assembly, lead by students Sydney Stene and Brady Church. To their side were stones from the school's homerooms drawing attention to those battling cancer.

"The idea of something that can be registered and measured in the mind and heart is embodied by the stone's most obvious feature: it's weight," said Stene during the presentation.

"Those of us who have experienced, or are experiencing the pain comes from someone else's cancer, know the weight. And those who suffer with and sometimes lose their lives to cancer know that weight."

Behind the stones were oversize cancer ribbons, coupled to create a butterfly shape to reinforce the idea of hope. An overhead screen displayed a list of cancers and the ribbon colours assigned to them.

"The name of a specific cancer and the list of names that follow are not necessarily linked," said Church. "The point is that cancer, in its many forms, impacts many people."

Through the years, the high school's Terry Fox presentation has used many symbols to remember the battle and hope inspired by the brave young Canadian.

Teacher Heather Haxton has been the assembly's lead teacher for the last four years and has been involved since 2011.

"In the past, we've used images of water and the idea of collectively bring the water from east to west, because Terry couldn't," she explains. "Other ideas have governed our assemblies and the kids are amazing, both those who are contributing to the assembly and those who are participating as audience members."

While Terry Fox succumbed to cancer at age 22 some 38 years ago, millions have taken up his call to action and events like this remind us to carry forward his hope for the future.

"The things that we're doing now will affect people that we don't know or perhaps don't exist yet and that's even more reason to hold it in high regard and why there's such a strong responsible around carrying on his legacy," says Stene.

"It affects our family members, our friends, our classmates and our teachers," says Stene. "Almost everyone that you know is affected in some fashion by the disease."

Since its creation, the Terry Fox Foundation has raised $700 million for cancer research.