Remember, Terry Fox run coming soon!

[HEyHEY]

One thing, in my opinion, separating Canada and the much of the world, is our lack of a hero culture. In Canada we don't fall over and make a huge deal out of people who do "heroic" things. To be a hero in Canada, you have to really be one.
And this lack of of a hero culture makes our heroic people that much more special. The centre this is spiralling towards is Terry Fox. As many know, September brings with it the Terry Fox Run for cancer research. Students, and people across Canada and the world will be accepting money in exchange for a pledge of their participation in the run.
Personally I've always looked upon Terry Fox with great admiration and respect, and I think it's the same across the country. How could you not respect this man?
At 18 he was diagnosed with cancer and had his leg amputated as a result. After spending time dealing with cancer, and being surrounded by those with cancer, he decided to set upon a quest. As you know that quest was to run across Canada, and at age 21 he set out on his mission after 18 months of training. Much of his training involved jogging up and down the street I grew up on (though I was not born for most of his training). But my mother remembers seeing him running down the road and wondering who he was and what he was doing jogging on one leg. She says there was even groups of sorry excuses for humans that would veer their cars towards him in a mean spirited "joke."
But none of this stopped Fox despite the amount of people that tried to discourage him, and cancer itself, on April 12, 1980, he began his run in St John's Newfoundland.
As the days went on the media and public began to get behind this young man. And soon he had mobs of people showing up on the roadside to cheer him on. Then just outside of Thunder Bay Ontario, things took a turn for the worse. Fox was diagnosed with cancer in his lungs and had to stop his marathon. He was flown back to Vancouver where he died on Jun. 28, 1981. By the age of 22 this man had made an impact across the entire world, and raised millions to fight cancer research. If he could show that much courage in the face of death and adversity the least we can do is continue to support his cause.

[SidDithers]

1. I've run the 10k for the last few years...

but I'm out with a knee injury this year. I'll be cheering for my spouse tho. There are runs all over the world - find the one close to you and participate.

http://www.terryfoxrun.org/english/home/default.asp?s=1

Runners will appreciate this - Terry ran almost a marathon a day, every day, for 143 straight days. With one leg.

Thanks for the reminder, HEyHEY.

Sid

[yvr girl]

2. Terry was a true hero

Cancer may have taken his life, but it didn't defeat him. I would hazzard a guess that much more money has been raised in Terry's name than was raised during his Marathon of Hope.

I was a kid when he did his run. I admired what he did, but I did not fully appreciate how impressive it was. He had such determination and focus. He also showed a tremendous amount of poise and grace. I can't believe he was only 21/22 at the time.