I recently moved, ok- so it was three months ago, but the point is I’m still catching up on the back-log of my out of control “to-read” magazine pile. On the top of the pile today was Runner’s World, January 2007. One of the cover stories has a tag-line of “The Most Inspiring Runner Who Ever Lived: The Terry Fox Story”
For those of you you don’t know Terry Fox, and I was one until this article, here is a quick summary of what I learned in the Runner’s World Article. Terry Fox, was a young man who was diagnosed with bone cancer and had his right leg amputated when he was 18. One of his coaches (he was a High-school athlete) provided him a magazine story about the first amputee to complete the New York City Marathon. (This was 1980). This seemed to have set the wheels of destiny in motion, and Terry decided to run across Canada to raise awareness and funds for cancer treatment related research. A unbelievable task for anyone to undertake. The plan was to start in Newfoundland and head west to his native British Columbia. He dubbed this the “Marathon of Hope.” He would run on average a marathon a day for 143 days. He did not know it at the time, but his cancer had metastasized prior to the amputation, on his 143rd day of his “Marathon of Hope” he was unable to continue. He was flown to a hospital it turned out to be tumors in his chest, lung cancer. He would die 10 months later. An amazing fact is that Terry, only had 3 days “rest”, so he ran roughly 140 Marathon’s in 143 days. I believe the article said he raised $27 Million during the Marathon of Hope, which is absolutely unbelievable for an individual achievement, especially without the corporate machinery of modern day fundraising. His goal was to raise $1 from every Canadian. In 2005, the Canadian Mint has issued 1$ silver coin with Terry Fox’s image on it, I think the symbolism is fitting.
The article is a very good read, so if you have access to a Jan 2007, Runner’s World, I highly recommend reading this article, go to the library if you have to, its worth it. ( I tried to find it at the Runner’s World website but was unsuccessful.) If you do not have access to Runner’s World, I suggest a little googling or wikipedia or the CBC Website.
According to the CBC Website, To date, more than $360 Million dollars has been raised in Terry’s name for cancer research.
Inspirational
Recommendation
For those of you you don’t know Terry Fox, and I was one until this article, here is a quick summary of what I learned in the Runner’s World Article. Terry Fox, was a young man who was diagnosed with bone cancer and had his right leg amputated when he was 18. One of his coaches (he was a High-school athlete) provided him a magazine story about the first amputee to complete the New York City Marathon. (This was 1980). This seemed to have set the wheels of destiny in motion, and Terry decided to run across Canada to raise awareness and funds for cancer treatment related research. A unbelievable task for anyone to undertake. The plan was to start in Newfoundland and head west to his native British Columbia. He dubbed this the “Marathon of Hope.” He would run on average a marathon a day for 143 days. He did not know it at the time, but his cancer had metastasized prior to the amputation, on his 143rd day of his “Marathon of Hope” he was unable to continue. He was flown to a hospital it turned out to be tumors in his chest, lung cancer. He would die 10 months later. An amazing fact is that Terry, only had 3 days “rest”, so he ran roughly 140 Marathon’s in 143 days. I believe the article said he raised $27 Million during the Marathon of Hope, which is absolutely unbelievable for an individual achievement, especially without the corporate machinery of modern day fundraising. His goal was to raise $1 from every Canadian. In 2005, the Canadian Mint has issued 1$ silver coin with Terry Fox’s image on it, I think the symbolism is fitting.
The article is a very good read, so if you have access to a Jan 2007, Runner’s World, I highly recommend reading this article, go to the library if you have to, its worth it. ( I tried to find it at the Runner’s World website but was unsuccessful.) If you do not have access to Runner’s World, I suggest a little googling or wikipedia or the CBC Website.
According to the CBC Website, To date, more than $360 Million dollars has been raised in Terry’s name for cancer research.
Inspirational
Recommendation
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