April 17th, 2005 -- (Terry Fox)

This week marked the 25th anniversary of the commencement of Terry Fox's run across Canada. I shamefully admit that until this week I didn't know much about him... other than he tried to run accross Canada in an attempt raise money for cancer. I know alot more about him now.

At age 21, Terry Fox began his "Marathon of Hope" in St. John's, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980. When he began there were only a few people who knew him or his cause; 143 days later most everyone in Canada knew him. Terry had a type of bone cancer, and his leg was amputated well above the knee.

I saw Terry's brother Darrell on TV this week -- Darrell pointed out something remarkable. He said that most people who run a marathon will train for months, and will take weeks to allow thier body to recover. Terry Fox ran the equivalent of a marathon everyday for 143 days. He did it with a prosthetic leg -- and cancer.

He ran over 5000 km's (more than half the distance of Canada), and eventually stoped outside Thunder Bay, Ontario because the cancer had spread to his lungs. To date, the Terry Fox Foundation has raised over 360 million dollars for cancer research.

This week I've seen lot's of archived video tape of Terry Fox, and what impresses me most is that hope, and optimisim seemed to radiate from him.

Terry Fox is a hero.

"Some people can’t figure out what I’m doing. It’s not a walk-hop, it’s not a trot, it’s running, or as close as I can get to running, and it’s harder than doing it on two legs."

"I'm not a dreamer, and I'm not saying this will initiate any kind of definitive answer or cure to cancer, but I believe in miracles. I have to.”

"If you’ve given a dollar, you are part of the Marathon of Hope .”

--Terry Fox