On this day, April 12th, back in 1980,
Terry Fox started his “Marathon of Hope” with a plan to run east to west across
Canada to raise awareness of cancer.
Three years prior to the run, at the age
of 18, Fox was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, commonly referred to as bone
cancer, in his right knee. He underwent an amputation followed by 16 months of
chemotherapy and wore a prosthesis on his right leg.
Spurred on by an article he received the
night before his amputation about Dick Traum, who was the first amputee to
complete the New York City Marathon, Fox started 14 months of painful training
during chemotherapy with a vision of spreading awareness about cancer. He told
his family and most of his friends he was going to run a marathon, sharing his
thoughts about running the length of Canada only with his friend, Doug Alward,
until close to the beginning of his journey.
Fox wrote to many companies about his quest,
and received donations of a camper van from Ford Motor Company; fuel for the
trek from Imperial Oil; and his running shoes from Adidas. Alward would drive
the van and follow behind Fox on the trip across Canada.
With the Marathon of Hope, Fox wanted to
inspire children who were his age or younger and had cancer; increase awareness
of cancer; and hoped to raise donations that would equal one dollar for every
Canadian, which would equal $24 million dollars.
Once Fox was ready to begin, he dipped
his right leg into the Atlantic Ocean in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12,
1980 and hit the road with plans to run a marathon of 26 miles each and every
day from Newfoundland across to Vancouver. He would get up in the morning, run
12 miles, rest and then run the daily remaining 14 miles before resting again
for the night to begin the process over again the next day.
After Fox had run over 561 miles without
much fanfare or interest, he arrived in Port aux Basques and was pleasantly
surprised to find the 10,000 town residents waiting for him with a donation of
over $10,000 towards cancer research.
When Fox reached Nova Scotia, his 17-year
old brother, Darrell Fox, joined Fox and Alward on the journey, helping to
drive the van and provide more support for Fox.
Ontario was a turning point for Fox’s
journey. As he arrived in Ontario at the end of June, he was greeted by a brass
band and thousands of residents, who swarmed the streets just to see him and
support him. Fox also performed a ceremonial kickoff at a Canadian Football
League game in Ottawa in front of 16,000 fans, who gave him a standing ovation.
These moments -- including meeting Hockey
Hall of Famer Bobby Orr in southern Ontario -- helped Fox push through the pain
he was feeling from his run to keep going. Fox’s Marathon of Hope sadly ended in
Thunder Bay on September 1st, 1980. He had run 3,339 miles at that point, but
asked to be taken to a hospital as he felt so terrible. Doctors checked out Fox
and found that his cancer had progressed and there were now two tumors -- one
in each of his lungs.
At that point, Fox put out an
announcement that his Marathon of Hope had to be put on hold, but he did plan
to finish it when he felt better. He then underwent more chemotherapy to try
and treat the tumors.
After Fox’s news, the CTV Television
Network put on an impromptu telethon in support of Fox and the Canadian Cancer
Society. This telethon raised 10.5 million dollars.
Sadly, Fox was never able to return to
his Marathon of Hope, and he died on June 28, 1981 at the age of 22. In honor
of Fox’s death, the Government of Canada ordered that flags be lowered to half
mast, which was quite uncommon as this honor was typically reserved for
statesmen.
A statue of Fox now stands in Thunder Bay
to honor his Marathon of Hope and the inspiration he gave to so many on his
journey and continues to do so today.
Mary E. Hart is the Digital Communications Specialist for
NTI. She is also a freelance writer, editor and content strategist,
specializing in writing copy that will get stuck in your head like an earworm,
prompting you to take action. Previously, she worked in Demand Generation
marketing for UBM Tech and Ziff Davis Enterprise. In her spare time, Mary is
working on the next great novel.
