The Canadian Hero Terry Fox

Terry Fox: The Journey

The Canadian Hero Terry Fox died on the 28 of June 1981 in New Westminster, BC. Terry stopped running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometers. This wasn’t the end of his story, let’s go back to the beginning.

Terence Stanley Fox was born on July 28, 1958, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and raised in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a community near Vancouver Canada. In his teenage years Terry was an active person playing baseball, soccer, rugby and basketball. He was so athletic that in grade 12 he won his high school's athlete of the year award along with his best friend Doug Alward. After high school, Terry was unsure if he wanted to go to University, Terry’s mother, Betty

Fox convinced him to go to Simon Fraser University where Terry studied kinesiology to move forward in teaching physical education. In University he also tried out for the basketball team and his competitive personality put him on top of others.

One fall day Terry was driving to his home in Port Coquitlam, he diverted his attention to a nearby construction.

He crashed into the back of a pickup truck and his car was completely in ruins. Luckily Terry only came out of the accident with a sore right knee. About a month after the crash Terry felt more pain in that same knee but said he would ignore it till the end of his basketball season. But by March Terry could not take the pain anymore and finally went to the hospital. The doctor said that he had a form of cancer starting in his right knee. Terry had to get his knee amputated and have chemotherapy. Terry had a 50 percent survival rate that would have been 15 percent two years ago but not then for the improvement and value of cancer

research.

Right before Terry’s leg got (was) amputated, he read an article about a man who had his leg amputated andjust like Terry would who ran the New York City Marathon. Terry got (was) inspiredation byfrom that one article to run a marathon himself. That is what triggered Terry Fox’s idea to run across Canada and raise money for cancer research. Three weeks after Terry amputated his leg he had started walking and playing some sports like golf. Terry went through 16 months of chemotherapy and doctors were surprised with Terry’s dedication which reflected to his very fast recovery. On September 2 1979 Terry ran a 17 mile race in Prince George, BC and finished last place. Even though the slow finish Terry was applauded by other runners. After this race, is when Terry told his family about his plan to run across Canada. Terry’s mom discouraged him at first but later she came to support him in his run. At first Terry hoped to raise one million dollars for cancer research, but later down the road he said he would raise 24 million dollars. One for each person in Canada.

Terry had to do many things to prepare for the run.

First of all was his 16 month Chemotherapy. After those 16 long months, Terry had to train. Terry started with 3 miles a day and long months after he was ready to embark on his run. Terry Fox started his run at the start of April 1980. Terry ran through 6 provinces for 143 days, but after those 5 373 kilometers,Terry started coughing and felt pain in his chest. Terry tried to keep going but just outside of Thunder Bay Terry had to stop running. His cancer had started to spread through his body. He told his brother to take him in the van to a hospital at the time and they rushed to the nearest hospital. But June 28 1981 about a year after Terry started running, Terry passed away in New Westminster. He died with his cancer at its worse and by catching pneumonia. He fell into a coma and passed away at Royal Columbian

Hospital.

Terry Fox is one of Canada’s greatest heroes. He raised 24 million dollars. Right about his goal. His attempt to run across Canada is very inspiring to Canadian’s. In total over 650 million dollars has been raised in Terry Fox runs. Now every year, there are thousands of Terry Fox runs held in Canada and his legacy will be forever kept well in our country. It is amazing what one person can do for such a big country and for cancer research. We as Canadians must keep this tradition going for as long as we can and I don’t think anyone will be forgetting Terry and his Marathon of Hope anytime soon.