AS I SEE IT COLUMN: The enduring legacy of Terry Fox

“I wanted to set an example that would never be forgotten” – Terry Fox

In 1980 a 21-year-old Terry Fox started his Marathon of Hope, beginning what he hoped would take him from one coast of Canada to the other, and in the process, raise $1 million for cancer research.

His right leg had been amputated above the knee when he was 18 years old, and while in hospital, Terry was deeply moved by the young children who were also battling cancer. Terry said it was the courage and resilience in those young kids that inspired him to run across the country. He wanted to help those children and others like them.

After running 5,373 kilometres – a marathon almost every single day – Terry had to stop running because the cancer that had taken his leg, had spread to his lungs.

Terry’s incredible courage, dedication and perseverance inspired a nation, and still does to this day.

There are many remarkable elements to Terry’s Marathon of Hope. One is that he ran on a walking leg. The technology did not yet exist for a “running” prosthetic leg. The image of him hopping on his good leg and the clicking noises that could be heard as he swung his prosthetic leg is beyond iconic.

Another aspect of Terry’s superhuman run was the incredible physical exertion and pain he endured. While his run was courageous and enormously inspirational, I don’t think Terry gets nearly enough credit for the other-worldly nature of his physical accomplishment.

According to the Yale School of Medicine, runners should rest a full week after running a marathon.

Terry ran a marathon. Every. Single. Day. And he did that for an amazing 143 days.

That doesn’t make any logical sense, yet that’s exactly what Terry did. That’s not a Herculean effort; it was a super-human effort.

He took one day off to swim and hang out with a 10-year-old boy who had the same operation Terry did. If you watch one of the powerful videos on The Terry Fox Foundation website, you will see Terry and the boy swimming and playing in the water.

Terry called that the “most inspiring day of his life.”

While he never got to complete his run across Canada, Terry accomplished something exponentially larger than he ever dreamed. His foundation has raised over $900 million (and counting) for cancer research.

His impact, his ongoing legacy, is the stuff of legends.

One of the videos on The Terry Fox Foundation website quotes a doctor who says that when Terry started his Marathon of Hope in 1980, there was a very slim chance of children surviving a cancer diagnosis. Today, thanks in part to the huge amount of money The Terry Fox Foundation raises for cancer research, 80% of young children will survive.

Over 9,000 schools across the country will run for Terry. As amazing as that is – to see kids who weren’t alive when Terry embarked on his noble run – the impact of what Terry did extends far beyond the borders of Canada. Amazingly, Terry Fox Runs are held in over 33 countries around the world, such is the impact he and his profoundly moving story had on others.

Now, 43 years after his Marathon of Hope, Terry remains an inspiration to young and young-at-heart people all over the world.

Terry’s courageous run, his desire to help find a cure for cancer, the astonishing physical effort he gave and the money his foundation continues to generate, all combine to make Terry’s original quote come true.

He will never be forgotten.