Terry Fox

Terry Fox

For my hero I chose Terry Fox. He is my hero because he tried to help people that have cancer. Terry Fox tried to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. He didn’t make it, but he is still my hero.

Terry Fox’s real name was Terrance. He was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on July 28, 1958, but was raised in British Columbia. He was a very active teenager. He loved lots of sports, but when he was 18 he got bone cancer. The doctors amputated his right leg.

While in the hospital he saw lots of cancer patients and decided to run across Canada. He wanted to call it The Marathon of Hope. Terry Fox decided to get Canadians to give a dollar in each place he ran. It was tough preparing.

Terry Fox ran 5,000 kilometers to prepare for The Marathon of Hope. When he started, he ran 42 kilometers a day through Quebec and Ontario. It was a very important event that Canadians never forgot. In September, Terry Fox was forced to stop outside Thunder Bay because the cancer spread into his lungs.

After 143 days and about 5,373 kilometers, Canadians were saddened. On June 28, 1981, a month before his 23rd birthday, Terry Fox passed away. Although he passed away, people are still running and raising money for cancer research. They run, not across Canada, but across a field or a playground. Today people have helped raise more than 360 million dollars for cancer research in Terry Fox’s name.