Terry Fox

Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Growing up he was very active in sports. In high school he was on the basketball team when he started experiencing knee pains in his right leg. These pains started hurting Terry, and he made a visit to the doctor. The doctor diagnosed Terry with bone cancer. He had no choice but to get his right leg amputated, six inches above the knee, in 1977.

Terry Fox realized there was very little money for cancer research. He decided he would run across Canada, with an articficial leg, to raise money. He trained for 18 months running over 3,000 miles to prepare for his run, which he would call, "The Marathon of Hope."

On April 12th, 1980, Terry Fox started his Marathon of Hope in St. John's, Newfoundland. At the beginning, there were very few fans, but as he went on, he was on the news, and people started to give money to Terry as he passed through their town. He would average about to 26 miles a day. That's like running a marathon everyday!

But unfortunately, Terry started having pains in his chest. His friends and family were concerned. But in spite of it, Terry didn't want to stop his Marathon of Hope. On September 1st, 1980, Terry was told the cancer had spread to his lungs. Terry couldn't go on. His Marathon of Hope stopped just outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario.

After he stopped running, Terry Fox was always showing up at numerous events making speeches. But sadly, on June 28th, 1981, Terry Fox passed away. Today there are lots of fundraisers to raise money for cancer research. To date, $330 million has been raised in Terry Fox's name. He is my hero because he was an incredible person for running across Canada with an artificial leg.