Terry Fox Marathon Of Hope

It was a warm April 12 in 1980 when Terry Fox started his run across Canada.  The 20-year-old had been diagnosed with bone cancer three years prior, and lost his right leg six inches above the knee.

During his treatment and recovery, he was more concerned with the younger patients in his ward, and wanted to help them somehow. His idea, three years in the making, would become the Marathon of Hope.

He kicked off in St John’s, Newfoundland, covering 42 kilometres a day as he made his way west. The iconic photo of Fox in his Canada flag t-shirt, running on one good leg and a metal prosthetic, is an indelible image of his courage and hope.

The young man made it all the way to Thunder Bay, 5,373 kilometres from his start point, before cancer struck again. He was forced to stop his run because the deadly disease had appeared in his lung.

Fox died June 28, 1981, at the age of 22.

But his memory lives on, and the Marathon of Hope has become an international event.

In addition to being carried out in every province, it’s also a regular fundraiser in at least 12 U.S. states, and also is conducted once a year in at least 51 countries.

Some of those who ran in Toronto’s event Sunday had very personal motivations.

“For me, personally, my mom died of cancer in 2001. It’s an awful disease and everything we can do is going to mean that one less person has to suffer through what my mom did,” explained Mayor David Miller, as he kicked off the event in High Park.

Shirley Hoon supports the event hoping that others will be saved the way she was. She suffered a similar kind of cancer to Terry Fox, and also had one of her legs amputated. “I was in hospice care, I was supposed to die. But I’m alive now. Please, please, support the Terry Fox runs,” she pleaded.

To date, more than $400 million has been raised internationally for cancer research in Fox’s name.  Among the countries taking part in 2008:

Afghanistan (Kabul)

Belgium (Alle Sur Semoins, Shape)

China (Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen)
Croatia (Zagreb)
Cuba

Egypt (Sinai)
England (Hook, London)

Germany (Geilenkerchen, Wilhelmshaven)

India (Bombay (Mumbai)
Ireland
Italy (Bari, Beilla, Montecatini Terme, Milan)

Japan (Gifu, Mien Ken, Tokyo)

Kuwait (Kuwait City)

Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)

Netherlands (Amersfoort, The Hague, Groningen, Brunssum)

Oman (Muscat)

Portugal (Lisbon)

Qatar (Dota)

Romania (Bucharest)

Saudi Arabia (Riyadh)
Scotland (Aberdeen)
Seychelles (Seychelles Island)
Slovenia (Maribor)
South Korea (Seoul)
Switzerland (Leysin)
Syria (Aleppo, Damascus)

Taiwan (Kaohsiung, Taipei, Taichung)
Turkey (Ankara, Istanbul)

United States (New Hampshire, New York, Texas)

Vietnam (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City)

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