JMK
Apr 12th, 2005, 01:43:02 PM
I don't know how well known Terry Fox is in the U.S., but he's a legend here in Canada. In fact he was voted as the second greatest Canadian of all time, and here's why:
http://www.sportsnet.ca/othersports/article.jsp;jsessionid=HDLONDLNPFIA?content=200504 12_111824_2764
25 years and still running
Sportsnetnews reflects on Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope on its 25th anniversary. Catch the feature on Sportsnetnews on Tuesday.
Sportsnet.ca -- The Marathon of Hope began on April 12, 1980 with little fanfare but plenty of guts and resolve.
Three years before the marathon, Terry Fox was an 18-year-old freshman student at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, B.C. when he was diagnosed with bone cancer. Four days after the diagnosis, his right leg was amputated just above the knee.
Recognizing the need for inspiration, Fox's high school basketball coach gave him an article about an amputee runner who ran in the New York city marathon before his operation. It was an article with catastrophic impact.
"I decided after my year and a half of chemotherapy that I'd run across the country and raise as much as I could for the Canadian Cancer Society," Terry Fox said during the Marathon of Hope.
He began practicing on a track in his hometown of Port Coquitlam, B.C. with his brother Darrell, who's now the national director of the Terry Fox Foundation. Fox ran 5,000 kilometers before deeming himself ready for the journey across the country.
"I was fortunate," Darrell Fox said. "I had this incredible gift at the age of 17 to travel with Terry during the Marathon of Hope and join up with him in St. John's, N.B. and it was like the greatest adventure you could ever be on. To witness Canada the way perhaps no one else has ever witnessed Canada, one day at a time, one mile at a time, and I watched a nation embrace my brother."
Through rain, snow, sleet, heat and exhaustion, Fox kept on running. A run that had largely been ignored in Newfoundland had exploded into the national spotlight by the time he reached Montreal.
"I've got a third of the run behind me," Fox said during the marathon. "Now all I have to do is do it two more times."
Rising every morning before 4:30 a.m., Fox averaged an incredible 42 kilometres a day.
"He's going to make it," Fox's mother Betty said at the time. "He's in Toronto now and he's going to make it."
Sadly, he did not. After a brief stop for a new prosthesis, Terry continued his journey.
"He was able to dig so deep within himself to find the strength to keep going even though he wasn't well," Darrell Fox said.
Just shy of Thunder Bay, Ont. on Sept. 1 after 143 consecutive days and more than 5,300 kilometres, the Marathon of Hope was over. Chest pains forced Fox to see a doctor.
"The doctor that diagnosed Terry in Thunder Bay said he could not believe that this person was able to walk into his office, let alone run 26 miles the day before," Darrell Fox said. "And it was later that day that he was diagnosed that he couldn't even walk up a flight of stairs."
Despite the odds, Terry never gave up hope and maintained he still wanted to finish the Marathon of Hope.
"I've got cancer in my lungs," he said after seeing the doctor. "I've got to go home for treatment. Any way I can finish it, I will."
Cancer never let him finish but the world has been running in his name ever since.
Fifty-five countries around the world hold fundraising runs in his honour, and the Terry Fox foundation has raised more than $360-million for cancer research.
Terry Fox passed away on June 28, 1981 but his spirit never left us. His humble quest to make a difference is quite simply the most profound example of how one person can change the world.
"I needed six months to train for a marathon and I needed a month to recover, yet Terry ran a marathon every day for 143 straight days on an artificial leg," Darrell Fox said. "I've spent the last 25 years trying to answer the question 'how did he do it', and I'll never have an answer for that."
If we want to talk about warriors and heroes in sports, and in the world, this kid is near the very top.
43 kilometers (26.7 miles) every day? After being treated for a year of chemo? Literally on one leg? Are you kidding me? Every time I hear his story I can't believe what he did, and what people continue to do in his name...
http://www.sportsnet.ca/othersports/article.jsp;jsessionid=HDLONDLNPFIA?content=200504 12_111824_2764
25 years and still running
Sportsnetnews reflects on Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope on its 25th anniversary. Catch the feature on Sportsnetnews on Tuesday.
Sportsnet.ca -- The Marathon of Hope began on April 12, 1980 with little fanfare but plenty of guts and resolve.
Three years before the marathon, Terry Fox was an 18-year-old freshman student at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, B.C. when he was diagnosed with bone cancer. Four days after the diagnosis, his right leg was amputated just above the knee.
Recognizing the need for inspiration, Fox's high school basketball coach gave him an article about an amputee runner who ran in the New York city marathon before his operation. It was an article with catastrophic impact.
"I decided after my year and a half of chemotherapy that I'd run across the country and raise as much as I could for the Canadian Cancer Society," Terry Fox said during the Marathon of Hope.
He began practicing on a track in his hometown of Port Coquitlam, B.C. with his brother Darrell, who's now the national director of the Terry Fox Foundation. Fox ran 5,000 kilometers before deeming himself ready for the journey across the country.
"I was fortunate," Darrell Fox said. "I had this incredible gift at the age of 17 to travel with Terry during the Marathon of Hope and join up with him in St. John's, N.B. and it was like the greatest adventure you could ever be on. To witness Canada the way perhaps no one else has ever witnessed Canada, one day at a time, one mile at a time, and I watched a nation embrace my brother."
Through rain, snow, sleet, heat and exhaustion, Fox kept on running. A run that had largely been ignored in Newfoundland had exploded into the national spotlight by the time he reached Montreal.
"I've got a third of the run behind me," Fox said during the marathon. "Now all I have to do is do it two more times."
Rising every morning before 4:30 a.m., Fox averaged an incredible 42 kilometres a day.
"He's going to make it," Fox's mother Betty said at the time. "He's in Toronto now and he's going to make it."
Sadly, he did not. After a brief stop for a new prosthesis, Terry continued his journey.
"He was able to dig so deep within himself to find the strength to keep going even though he wasn't well," Darrell Fox said.
Just shy of Thunder Bay, Ont. on Sept. 1 after 143 consecutive days and more than 5,300 kilometres, the Marathon of Hope was over. Chest pains forced Fox to see a doctor.
"The doctor that diagnosed Terry in Thunder Bay said he could not believe that this person was able to walk into his office, let alone run 26 miles the day before," Darrell Fox said. "And it was later that day that he was diagnosed that he couldn't even walk up a flight of stairs."
Despite the odds, Terry never gave up hope and maintained he still wanted to finish the Marathon of Hope.
"I've got cancer in my lungs," he said after seeing the doctor. "I've got to go home for treatment. Any way I can finish it, I will."
Cancer never let him finish but the world has been running in his name ever since.
Fifty-five countries around the world hold fundraising runs in his honour, and the Terry Fox foundation has raised more than $360-million for cancer research.
Terry Fox passed away on June 28, 1981 but his spirit never left us. His humble quest to make a difference is quite simply the most profound example of how one person can change the world.
"I needed six months to train for a marathon and I needed a month to recover, yet Terry ran a marathon every day for 143 straight days on an artificial leg," Darrell Fox said. "I've spent the last 25 years trying to answer the question 'how did he do it', and I'll never have an answer for that."
If we want to talk about warriors and heroes in sports, and in the world, this kid is near the very top.
43 kilometers (26.7 miles) every day? After being treated for a year of chemo? Literally on one leg? Are you kidding me? Every time I hear his story I can't believe what he did, and what people continue to do in his name...