It was just three days ago, twenty-five years ago that Terry Fox was forced to end his Marathon of Hope just outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario due to cancer in his lungs. The symbolic sound of his hop/step should be iconic to any Canadian.
Terry Fox died at 22 just a few months before I was born. At the time of his death, my first public school was just being build, and I entered the Scarborough education system at Terry Fox Public School.
The kicks that Terry Fox wore, running 5000 kms across Canada were the Adidias Orion which if you’re quick you can pick up at Sport Chek as a special commemorative edition. I went to buy a pair yesterday, but they’re pretty poorly made shoes, though they’d be great in a collection (plus proceeds fund cancer research). They say Terry Fox across the side, and the insoles have a cute map of Terry’s route.
This September 18th, I’ll be taking an afternoon to participate in the Kitchener/Waterloo Marathon of Hope (though it’s just 10km). If you’d like to pledge some money to the Terry Fox Foundation, you can do so online. You can also pledge my run if you’d like.
In 1999, Terry Fox was voted Canada’s Greatest Hero, and number 2 in CBC’s Greatest Canadian.
Sept 1: 5,373 km
Thunder Bay, ON
“People were still lining the road saying to me, “Keep going, don’t give up, you can do it, you can make it, we’re all behind you.” Well, you don’t hear that and have it go in one ear and out the other, for me anyway… There was a camera crew waiting at the three-quarter mile point to film me. I don’t think they even realized that they filmed my last mile… people were still saying, ‘You can make it all the way, Terry’. I started to think about those comments in that mile, too. Yeah, I thought, this might be my last one.”Thunder Bay, ON - Press Conference
“That’s the thing about cancer. I’m not the only one, it happens all the time to people. I’m not special. This just intensifies what I did. It gives it more meaning. It’ll inspire more people… I just wish people would realize that anything’s possible if you try. When I started this Run, I said that if we all gave one dollar, we’d have $22 million for cancer research, and I don’t care, man, there’s no reason that isn’t possible. No reason.”
