Terry Fox

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Terrance Stanley "Terry" Fox, CC (July 28, 1958 – June 28, 1981) was a Canadian humanitarian, athlete, and cancer treatment activist. He became famous for the Marathon of Hope, a cross-Canada run to raise money for cancer research, running with one prosthetic leg. He is considered one of Canada's greatest heroes of the 20th century and is celebrated internationally every September as people participate in the 'Terry Fox Run', the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Marathon of Hope 3 Portrayals 4 Honours 5 External links 5.1 Bibliography

[edit] Biography

Terry (Terrance) Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to Rolly and Betty Fox. He was raised with his two brothers and sister in the family home on Morrill Street in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada.

Young Terry was always an active sports fan, with diving being his favourite. As a teenager he won numerous medals in diving and swimming competitions and impressed many people with his stamina and endurance. Though many of his instructors encouraged him to stay with water sports and train professionally, Terry instead pursued another dream, which was to become a physical education teacher. After graduating with honours from Port Coquitlam Senior Secondary (the school which was later renamed for him), he applied to Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia and was accepted as a kinesiology student. Terry was an active student at SFU and participated in a variety of on-campus clubs and groups.

In 1977, after feeling pain in his right knee, he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. At the time the only way to treat his condition was to amputate his right leg several inches above the knee. Three years after losing his leg at age 18, the young athlete decided to run from coast to coast in order to raise money for cancer research. In creating the Marathon of Hope, his goal was to raise $1.00 from every Canadian citizen.

[edit] Marathon of Hope

Main article: Marathon of Hope

Terry began by dipping his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean at St. John's, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980. He aimed to dip it again in the Pacific Ocean when he arrived in Victoria, British Columbia. He also filled two large bottles with Atlantic Ocean water; his plan was to keep one as a souvenir and pour the other one into the Pacific. His plan was to run about 42 km (26.2 miles) a day, the distance of a typical marathon. No one had ever done anything similar to the task Fox was undertaking.

Unfortunately, Terry could not finish his run. The cancer had spread to his lungs, and he was forced to abandon the course on September 1, 1980 just north-east of Thunder Bay, Ontario after 143 days. He had run 5,373 km (3,339 miles, or around 23.3 miles per day) through Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario.

Soon after Terry was forced to stop, the CTV television network organized a telethon in hopes of raising additional funds for the cause. Any celebrities within range of Toronto were invited to participate, and the event raised millions of dollars. Many of the guests paid tribute to Fox; TV actor Lee Majors called him "the real Six Million Dollar Man." Terry Fox died on June 28, 1981, the year after his legendary run exactly one month shy of his twenty-third birthday.

[edit] Portrayals

His story is dramatized in the 1983 HBO TV movie The Terry Fox Story, which the Fox family has criticized for its negative depiction of Terry as having a fiery temper. In that film, he was portrayed by Eric Fryer, who won the Best Actor award at the 5th Genie Awards in 1984 for his portrayal.

In 2005, a new movie, titled Terry, was produced by the CTV television network. In that film, Fox was portrayed by Shawn Ashmore. Unlike Fryer, however, Ashmore is not himself an amputee; digital editing was used to superimpose a prosthesis over Ashmore's real leg.

Author Douglas Coupland also chronicled Fox in his 2005 book Terry - The Life of Canadian Terry Fox.

While Terry Fox was on his Marathon of Hope, a pop song was composed. "Run Terry Run" was performed by the Nancy Ryan's Singers.

British singer/songwriter Rod Stewart's 1981 album Tonight I'm Yours includes the song "Never Give Up On A Dream" (co-written with Bernie Taupin), a tribute to Terry's Marathon of Hope. Proceeds from the song went towards cancer research.

Cancer patient and right leg amputee Steve Fonyo, inspired by Terry, completed the full length of Terry's course.

In a public opinion poll, Terry Fox was voted the most famous Canadian of the 20th century. He was voted number two on The Greatest Canadian list.

Eric Walters’s fictional book Run is about a troubled teenager who is inspired by a meeting with Terry Fox.

The Terry Fox Run is run around the world every year to raise money for cancer research.

[edit] Honours

• Companion of the Order of Canada
• Voted second at The Greatest Canadian of all time, by popular vote.
• Order of the Dogwood Premier Bill Bennett presented British Columbia’s highest civilian award to Terry Fox.
• Lou Marsh Trophy of 1980
• Named athlete of the year in his final year of high school
• Named Canadian Newsmaker of the Year, 1980
• CCGS Terry Fox is a Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker.
• Port Coquitlam Senior Secondary School was renamed Terry Fox Secondary School in 1986. Its new building, opened 1999, retains the Fox name. Also around the country are Terry Fox Elementary School (Abbotsford, BC), Terry Fox Junior High School (Calgary, AB), Terry Fox Elementary School (Orléans, ON), Terry Fox Public School (Toronto, ON), Terry Fox Public School (Brampton, ON), Terry Fox Elementary School (Laval, QC), École primaire Terry Fox (Pierrefonds/Montreal, QC), and Terry Fox School (Saint-Hubert, QC).
• The Terry Fox Library in Port Coquitlam, a branch of the Fraser Valley Regional Library, was opened in honour of Terry Fox in 1983. The library houses memorabilia of Terry Fox and his run, and in this collection includes the artificial leg that Terry Fox ran on.
• The Track at Simon Fraser University, where Fox attended, was named 'Terry Fox Field' in his honour.
• On May 23, 2006, it was announced that a new school being constructed in Bathurst, New Brunswick would be named Terry Fox Elementary School. This is the first school in Atlantic Canada to bear his name, and it opened in September 2006. On November 15, 2006, Betty and Rolly Fox presided over the official opening for this school. Also in attendance was New Brunswick's Education Minister, Kelly Lamrock.
• Beginning April 4, 2005, a special-edition regular-circulation Canadian dollar coin depicting Fox began circulating. This was the first regular-circulation Canadian coin to depict someone other than royalty.
• Mount Terry Fox (52°56′00″N, 119°14′00″W; summit 2,650 metres), near Valemount, British Columbia is named in his honour, as well as Mount Terry Fox Provincial Park
• Kingston, Ontario named a street after Fox. Attached to Terry Fox Drive is Steve Fonyo Drive.
• In Mississauga, Ontario, there is a street named Terry Fox Way.
• In Vancouver, BC, Terry Fox Way, one of the streets surrounding BC Place Stadium is named for him.
• In Thunder Bay, Ontario, a section of the Trans Canada Highway is re-named The Terry Fox Courage Highway.
• Terry Fox Runs are held yearly in 60 countries now and more than 360 million dollars have been raised for cancer research.

Further honours are listed here

[edit] External links

• Terry Fox Run Site
• CBC Digital Archives - Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope
• CBC Digital Archives - Terry Fox 25: Reliving the Marathon of Hope
• BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum
• Order of Canada Citation
• CBC.ca - 25 Years of Hope: The Legacy of Terry Fox
• Terry at the Internet Movie Database
• The Terry Fox Story at the Internet Movie Database

[edit] Bibliography

• Biography from the Terry Fox Foundation
• Biography at Simon Fraser University website

Preceded by Sandra Post

Lou Marsh Trophy winner 1980

Succeeded by Susan Nattrass