Canada's Greatest Hero

This Sunday is the 30th anniversary of Canada's greatest hero. I think he's actually one of the world's greatest heroes.

Terry Fox.

He ran the Marathon of Hope, a run across Canada, to raise money for cancer research. On April 12th, 1980, he began his run in Saint John's Newfoundland, the easternmost city in Canada. He was twenty-one years old.

Did I mention he lost a leg to cancer? He did not consider himself disabled. He was an athlete. And he set out to prove it.

He ran a full marathon for 143 days in a row except for a few days of rest forced upon him midway. Shin splints, dizzy spells, a swollen knee, cysts on his stump, tendonitis in his ankle - and still he ran. He was forced to stop in Thunder Bay Ontario when his cancer returned and ultimately took his life.

His hope was to raise one dollar for every Canadian, and at that time we numbered 24 million.

To date, over $500 million dollars has been raised in his name.

To read a beautiful article on Terry, please visit the site below. It states much more eloquently than I ever can, the impact Terry Fox has had on us all.

The Terry Fox Story