Remembering Terry Fox; an inspirational cancer story

I received this very inspirational link from a friend this morning... wanted to share with you all!

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Ironmanlife: Remembering Terry Fox
Kevin Mackinnon remembers a Canadian Hero

Published on Friday, Aug 10, 2007 at 11:37 AM.

There is nothing quite like the north shore of Lake Superior. During the drive along the Trans Canada Highway between Sault Ste. Marie and Wawa (no, that wasn’t a typo), Ontario, you get to enjoy some of the most beautiful vistas this planet can offer.Those beautiful views come at the top of some major climbs with grades that stop the occasional cyclists you see in their tracks. Those cyclists have it easy, though, compared to a Canadian hero who ran along this highway more than 25 years ago … struggling through the Marathon of Hope. His name was Terry Fox and last week we paused during our long drive just outside of Thunder Bay to see the monument that remembers his amazing achievement.

Terry Fox was 18 years old when he had to have his right leg amputated six inches above the knee because of bone cancer. While in the hospital he decided that he would do something to raise awareness and money for cancer research. He decided he would run across Canada. He did more than 3,000 miles of training before he dipped his prosthesis in the Atlantic Ocean in Newfoundland on April 12, 1980 and started running. He had one friend along with him to grab a picture.

Each day he ran a marathon. He ran through the Atlantic Provinces and Quebec. It wasn’t until he hit Ontario that he started to garner any real attention, though. By the time he got to northern Ontario he had become a household name in Canada. There were regular reports on his progress in the newspapers and on television, and the money being raised started to grow. He hit the hills here along the north shore of Lake Superior in the heat of summer. With temperatures banging on 100 degrees Fahrenheit, he did his trademark run/ hop/ skip along the highway each and ever day for 42 km, or 26.2 miles.

I can’t even begin to imagine how difficult his journey was. Grant Darby, a close friend with a similar amputation to Fox’s, was used as a stand in for a recent movie on the Canadian hero. Darby is one of the toughest people I know and it’s hard enough for him to run 10 km in a triathlon (he’s a World Short Course Champion). How Fox ran a marathon day after day for almost six months is a mystery to me.

To give you an idea of how popular Fox became, one day, just outside of where I’m writing this column in Sault Ste. Marie, a spring snapped in Fox’s artificial leg. The local radio station reported on the mishap, and within minutes a welder was on his way along the highway to fix the prosthesis. A few days later people lined the highway to watch him take on the three km hill just outside of Wawa.

There was a huge crowd on hand to see him make another climb outside of Thunder Bay a few weeks later. As they cheered him on, though, those people didn’t know what the doctors in Sault Ste. Marie had tried to tell Fox before he ventured along the beautiful, scenic highway … there was a good chance that his cancer had progressed to his lungs.

A camera crew was waiting along the route, completely unaware that they were getting footage of the last mile of his run. On September 1, 1980, after 143 days and 3,339 miles (5,373 km), Terry Fox had to stop running. Less than a year later he was dead.

Terry Fox probably didn’t even notice how beautiful the scenery he was running through was. A lot like most of us as we fly along the Queen K on our bikes, or scream down to Keene during Ford Ironman USA Lake Placid. There are more than a few Ironman athletes who have raised lots of money through their endeavors (the Janus Charity Challenge has helped raise millions over the last few years). A few minutes at the Terry Fox monument outside Thunder Bay, Ontario, served as a very poignant reminder of what one person can do to make a difference.

Terry Fox started his Marathon of Hope in anonymity. He raised $22 million during his run and since he passed away more than $400 million has been raised in his name through the annual Terry Fox runs that take place across Canada every year.

You can reach Kevin Mackinnon at kevin@ironman.com