Terry Fox

We are by circumstances given the opportunity to meet people who really impact our lives. Terry Fox was one such person. I wrote a blog last year about this person but he deserves to be recognized every year and even more . By a set of circumstances I was president of the Pembroke Cancer society the year that Terry made his historic walk for the cure of Cancer. Every year we set a goal for the Cancer Society to raise awareness of the disease and the need for a cure. A financial goal was made and every year it was reached. That year it was surpassed by many times our objective.

What was so special this year was Terry's decision to walk across Canada to help find the cure. Terry was a schoolboy in B.C. and a super athlete. He was found to have a rare type of bone cancer and lost his leg. Terry was a hockey player and to lose a leg meant the end of his goal at being a professional player. He had a hero named Bobby Orr and he admired him for his ability to play through pain when he was the best hockey player in the NHL.

Terry decided to do something special about the disease which robbed him of his future. Along with his brother and family members , a few sponsors and a desire to do something no other person ever did , he with his artificial leg began to train for a cross Canada walk. He with little fanfare dipped his foot in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean and began his trek.

Day after day he walked the distance of a marathon and thus his walk became the Marathon Of Hope. Although he was disappointed at the small amount of publicity and money raised he entered Ontario to a rousing salute and the money flowed. Every town was lined with people and he became an immediate magnet for the Cancer Society and his spirit was lifted.

He entered towns, villages and people came out in droves to give money and to meet this curly haired boy. By the time he arrived in Toronto he was a hero. He gave a simple message when he met the children with cancer in Sick Kids Hospital. I am doing this for you and to beat this disease, I am not the hero but you who are battling this cancer. Terry was surprised when he had a visit from Bobby Orr and said it was the highlight of his walk.

Terry began to cover the Northern hills of Ontario and when he was within sight of Thunder Bay he was again struck with cancer. He had to go home to Vancouver and died not long after. The place where he ended his marathon of hope is a sacred place now with an appropriate life sized monument and a plaque telling his story.

As a school principal I placed Terry's picture in my office and in the hallway. I took every opportunity to use Terry as an example of the best we have to offer when it comes to unselfish service and he was my hero. He was and is Canada's hero and up to now the Terry Fox fundraising walks and runs raise millions of dollars for a cure for Cancer. Although Terry never completed his walk across Canada it is symbolic that his wish for a cure for Cancer is also not finished. This is the reason that his marathon of hope is just that. Hope for the cure.