It’s next weekend, Sunday, September 16. I need sponsors! I was reminded recently that the run was coming up, and I’ve just decided to try and do it every year. My goal is to actually RUN it, but I’m in no shape to do that next weekend — I’ll have to work up to it. Since I only signed up today and it’s 10 days from now, I’m going to set a modest goal of $300.
Any Canadian over the age of probably six knows the Terry Fox story because the whole country participates in the annual runs, from coast to coast. The schools I attended had the entire student population do the run every September, as part of school.
According to Wikipedia, the Terry Fox Run is the largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research.
From the Terry Fox website:
Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and raised in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a community near Vancouver on Canada’s west coast. An active teenager involved in many sports, Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15 centimetres (six inches) above the knee in 1977.
While in hospital, Terry was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients, many of them young children, that he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.
He would call his journey the Marathon of Hope.
After 18 months and running over 5,000 kilometres (3,107 miles) to prepare, Terry started his run in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980 with little fanfare. Although it was difficult to garner attention in the beginning, enthusiasm soon grew, and the money collected along his route began to mount. He ran 42 kilometres (26 miles) a day through Canada’s Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario.
It was a journey that Canadians never forgot.
However, on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles), Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario because cancer had appeared in his lungs. An entire nation was stunned and saddened. Terry passed away on June 28, 1981 at age 22.
The heroic Canadian was gone, but his legacy was just beginning.
To date, more than $400 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry’s name through the annual Terry Fox Run, held across Canada and around the world.
When Terry Fox died in 1981, I just turned 9 years old, but I distinctly remember the television footage of this lonely figure running along the side of the road, trying to achieve this monumental goal and outrun the cancer. He had a prosthetic leg, so he had a unique lopsided running gait. That kind of imagery sticks with you for life.
Of course, even if I’d never heard of Terry Fox, I have my own personal reasons to support cancer research.
It’s been years since I did the run — Grade 12! — but it’s high time I joined it again. If you’d like to add your support, I’ve got online pledging set up through the Terry Fox website. The site accepts donations in any currency, and has a currency converter.
Yes, I’d like to support cancer research and Gail needs the exercise! Take me to the pledge page.
Where does the money go?
I want to find out more information.
I’d like to do the Terry Fox Run, too! Where else in Canada is it taking place?
I live outside of Canada, are there Terry Fox Runs worldwide? (From Flickr: there’s a Terry Fox Run in Hyde Park, London, every year.)
Please give generously! Thank you!
