Filled with photographs, poems, newspaper clippings and letters- the pages tell the 20-year story of her involvement with the Terry Fox Run.

With a little encouragement from her niece, Wood first signed up in 1988 as a participant in Sudbury. "I was willing but didn't think much about my involvement beyond the fact I was about to walk 10 km and pay for the privilege to do so," said Wood during a recent speech to the Rotary Club of Bramalea.

Then Wood's children enrolled at Terry Fox Public School in Heart Lake and the annual Run became a family event, with each member collecting pledges and taking part.

Dubbed the 'Wood Walkers', her husband, daughter and two sons participated by walking, rollerblading or cycling.

"We continued along merrily for more than a decade content that we were doing something good to help nameless, faceless sufferers of cancer."

That changed in 2001, when Wood's older brother was diagnosed with advanced colorectal cancer.

The niece who urged Wood to participate in the run 13 years before was now facing losing her father to cancer.

"It was a frightening reality," said Wood.

"For me, he always represented the same sort of presence as Terry Fox. He was a giver. He was a fighter. He wasn't always the nicest person, but he fought for what he believed in and I...