As i was reading about Sarah who was able to overcome cancer, it just occurred to me that last week was the 25th anniversary of Terry Fox Marathon of hope.



For those who don’t know the story, Terry fox was a young Canadian who was struck by cancer. The disease took away one of his leg. Despite amputation, he decided to run a “Marathon of hope.” His objective was to run throughout Canada, from coast to coast and raise for cancer research 1$ per Canadian citizen. So one morning in 1980, he placed his artificial leg in Atlantic Ocean, hoping, that later he could do the same in Pacific ocean.



He ran throughout Eastern Provinces. Unfortunately, his project just proved that more money needs to be invested in cancer research. One morning, in Western Ontario, the terrible diagnostic fell: Cancer had spreaded to his lungs. He had to stop his marathon and died a few months later.



He did however raised 24 millions for Cancer research and his courage inspired many more cancer fund raisers. He was one of the youngest person to be nominated “Companion of the Canadian Order”.



Just wanted to share a very inspiring story…

Thanks for the timely reminder, Frenchie. Yes, what a courageous and inspirational young man. I remember how heartbreaking it was when he gave his press conference and announced he had been stricken again and had to give up the Marathon of Hope. However, the people of Canada took up where Terry left off and fund-raising walks were quickly arranged all over the country to continue the cause. I participated in one in Toronto which was a 25km walk starting at the Humber River and proceeding along Lakeshore Blvd. and up the Don Valley Parkway and back again (those extremely busy streets were actually closed for the day, yet nobody seemed to mind). Literally thousands participated - young, old, on foot, in wheelchairs, with dogs, children (I pushed my infant in her carriage and we got our picture in the paper shown beside a Metro Zoo employee walking a lion cub). So much money and awareness was raised and it was all due to that very special and unselfish young man.

It still brings a tear to my eye when I look at his picture and see his unruly curls, smattering of freckles and crooked smile - such a sweetiepie. I'm so glad a Canadian coin bearing his likeness has been minted and once I find one it'll be put in a place of honour in my collection.

Here's a link to the Terry Fox foundation site. I urge anyone who loves or cares about someone who has had cancer and everyone who's interested in finding a cure to visit and make a contribution.

http://www.terryfoxrun.org/

what an inspirational story. thanks for sharing it.