Come rain or shine, Brandon Radni walks the 5 km Terry Fox Run with his family every year, and this Sunday will be no exception.

The 16-year-old Mission Secondary School student says he admires the Canadian hero who started the annual fundraiser, and feels it is important to show other young people recovery is possible.

His own experience with cancer has been a long, difficult one, but it has motivated him to get out into the community to help people realize there is hope.

“It’s important to show people that they can get through it,” said Brandon’s mother, Terry.

Brandon’s father Tom said he remembered that when his son was much younger he was inspired when he read about Terry Fox.

Brandon has considered carefully what it means to all those who benefit from the Marathon of Hope, and said he is grateful to the legacy Terry Fox has left behind.

“If he hadn’t started running to raise money for cancer research, kids like me most likely wouldn’t be here,” he said. “And it’s a good way to pay our respects to him, even though all the running we do today put together will never compare to what he did.”

When Brandon was four, his mother noticed he was having difficulty with his balance and took him to the doctor, thinking he had an ear infection. But within less than a week he had a brain scan and was diagnosed with cancer.

The family checked into Ronald McDonald House soon after that and Brandon went in for a 10-hour operation at Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.

His cancer has been in remission for 12 years now, but Brandon only recently had his feeding tube removed for the first time since he started treatment.

“I had mine way longer than most kids, so it didn’t close up on its own,” Brandon explained. “It wasn’t really a lot of fun dealing with that. Right after they stitched it up though, I felt a lot better.”

That step in his recovery was one of his personal goals, said Terry.

There have been many hurdles and many milestones over the years.

After his first surgery and treatment, Brandon was unable to go to Kindergarten right away and missed much of the year.

Through the years he continued to attend classes even while he was in the midst of treatment.

Terry said she will never forget March 5, 1999 because that was the day of her son’s last round of chemotherapy.

Getting his hearing aids at about age six was also a special day.

“He could hear leaves crunching and birds, and footsteps,” said Terry. “It was amazing, that first week. All new sounds for him.”

Last November he had surgery to rebuild his back and neck to repair structural damage caused by post-radiation treatment.

Now Brandon can start swimming and continue with his physiotherapy again. He has a lot of work to do, but has come to accept the challenge.

“He adapts to things very well. He’s a very driven young man,” said Terry.

Today Brandon is a thoughtful teenager with sparkling brown eyes who likes to draw and loves music. He went to see the AC/DC concert in Vancouver on Aug. 29, which Terry said was “sweet.”

He is also into curling, and looks forward to rejoining the Mission curling club at the Leisure Centre next month after taking two seasons off.

But the real highlight of the year for Brandon is the time he spends at Camp Goodtimes in Maple Ridge.

Terry said the annual summer camp for kids with cancer is where Brandon feels most comfortable.

“They can just go there and be themselves and it doesn’t matter about your scars or tubes,” she said. “Everyone’s been through it, so Brandon says it’s where he fits. He can just be himself. It’s the best time for him.”

At the camp this summer, he was a leader-in-training, which meant he was in charge of a group of younger children. He is clearly aware of his own recovery as something younger kids can look to for inspiration.

Brandon goes to visit other children at the oncology clinic at Children’s Hospital and has volunteered to participate in a study on the effects of post-cancer treatment.

“It’s pretty cool because kids there who are just starting and are scared can see Brandon and go, ‘Wow, he made it, so I can too,’” said Terry. “That’s why it’s important to go to the Terry Fox Run. Brandon’s prognosis was very grim. They didn’t expect him to make it, and here we are.”