TERRY'S STORY

Terry Fox was a regular Canadian kid. He and his brothers rode their bikes to pick blueberries for spending money. He cheered for Vancouver’s new hockey team, the Canucks. He got in trouble for horsing around in the living room.

Terry’s cancer diagnosis changed everything.

He was 18 when he found out he had osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) in his right leg, just above the knee. Three days later, his leg was amputated. Terry was profoundly moved by the other cancer patients he met, many of whom were even younger than he was. Terry was determined to stop the hurting.

He came to a simple conclusion: more money – a LOT more money – was needed for cancer research. He decided to raise that money by running across the country. He spent the next 18 months training and planning for his Marathon of Hope.

On April 12, 1980, in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Terry dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean. And he started to run. He averaged a marathon a day (42 km) for 143 days. He made it more than halfway – 5,373 kilometres – when his cancer returned and he was forced to stop.

Terry died 10 months later, on June 28, 1981. But he achieved his audacious, almost unimaginable goal of raising $1 from every Canadian. And he died knowing that the Terry Fox Run – and his dream of a world without cancer – would continue without him.