In 1980, Brendan Kelly sat across the dinner table with Terry Fox in St. John's, N.L.

That time and place should be familiar: the year of Fox's Marathon of Hope, the place its starting point.

The impressions Fox left on Kelly have lasted a lifetime.

"Terry Fox did the ultimate – he gave up his life for what he believed in,” said Kelly, current principal of Porter Creek Secondary School.

"He was one of the most influential people in my life I ever met, because he was on a mission when I met him, and I think sometimes it's inherent in a person when they get a disease that can be life-threatening, that he knew he didn't have too long to be here ... he still persevered and pushed on.”

Kelly relayed that message to Porter Creek students this morning for the school's Terry Fox National School Run.

While the Terry Fox Run was held nationwide on Sept. 18, the school runs, which were held this week, are responsible for a large portion of the funds raised by the Terry Fox Foundation, according to BC/Yukon school coordinators.

Since Fox's death in 1981, the Terry Fox Foundation has raised more than $550 million worldwide for cancer research.

That effort began in St. John's, and grew as Fox ran a marathon – 42 kilometres – each day for 143 consecutive days.

Kelly remembers the beginning.

In 1977, the Canada Games Committee approached Kelly to promote the Summer Games in the Newfoundland capital.

"So I ran across Canada. I was the first person to run all 10 provinces across Canada,” he said.

Kelly held a picture of himself with then-Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau at the finish line in the Newfoundland capital to open the Games.

Three years later, Fox landed in St. John's to begin his Marathon of Hope.

"I let him read my diary of my trip across Canada,” Kelly said. "Terry read my diary and we had supper, myself and my wife-to-be at the time, at Ponderosa – because it was free,” he laughed.

"We chatted and he took my diary and read my diary and then we met again. He asked me some questions about running across Canada, promotion, how you get sponsors, how did I feel, what did I eat.”

Kelly played senior hockey out of town and would see Fox training on the highway.

"When he died, a lot of the press was around asking me if I would finish the run for Terry Fox. At that time, I said the run would never be finished until they find a cure for cancer. That was 31 years ago, and I've run every Terry Fox Run since and raised well-over $200,000 personally toward the Terry Fox Foundation.”

The night before Fox was forced to end his run, in Thunder Bay, Ont., Kelly received another call from CBC.

"I did that interview and went to bed. The next morning they phoned me and told me that he never made it.”

Kelly recalls last corresponding with Fox when he was running through southern Ontario.

"The conversation was mainly based around how the momentum was picking up.

There was no mention of his health at that time,” Kelly said.

"It was hard for Terry because he was always positive. Even when I met him in Newfoundland and there was no skin left on the stump of his leg – any normal person would say I can't go on.”

But his legacy does, added Kelly:

"When you're gone, your pain and suffering is over when you die, but it's the people you leave behind; and I think that's what Terry exemplifies, that's why over the years he's been so successful. There's a good reason, and you buy into life.

When you meet someone like that, you never forget them.”