A challenge that still inspires us today - From the Cluttered Desk with Keith Roulston

There was a reminder of how quickly time passes and how some remarkable things can resist time with a mention of something on the news the other day. It was the anniversary of Terry Fox beginning his Marathon of Hope by dipping his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean in Newfoundland and setting off across Canada, running the equivalent of a marathon a day.

 

I had to look it up to realize it was 1980 that this remarkable story began, one of disbelief that anyone would take on the challenge of running across Canada, aiming for 26 miles (40 kilometres) per day on one leg, having lost his other leg, above the knee, to cancer at 18. It all seemed so ridiculous that we barely took notice at first. His goal was to raise $1 for every Canadian for cancer research, which would have amounted to more than $24 million in 1980.

 

During the spring, he hobbled across Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Quebec, stopping in towns and cities, the crowds getting larger and larger as each day passed.

 

By the time he crossed into Ontario on June 28, the country had been taken by storm. He ran hundreds of extra miles as he crisscrossed southern Ontario, being greeted by larger and larger crowds in each town and village. He spent July and August running around southern Ontario. Donations poured in.

 

The rest of the country awaited with greater and greater excitement. He headed north and west. But on Sept. 1, 1980, near Thunder Bay, he had to stop. His cancer had returned. He had run 5,313 kilometres (3,339 miles) since starting his run four months earlier. Today, a statue marks the spot he had to abandon his run.

 

The news shocked Canadians. He had created such hope. Volunteers in towns, villages and cities picked up the challenge he couldn’t complete. Fundraising runs were organized. The Marathon of Hope went on, even if a heartbroken Terry Fox couldn’t take part himself. 

 

Sadly, a year later, on June 28, 1981, Terry Fox passed away, a month before his 23rd birthday. But the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope went on every September as thousands of Canadians ran for the cause. As of today, a little searching on the internet shows that $850 million has been raised for cancer research.

 

As I researched this column, and as I wrote it, I sometimes had to stop because I was overcome by emotion. It’s such a remarkable story, not only because Terry Fox took on such a challenge and had stirred so many to do the same. If he could see, today, what he has inspired, you wonder what he might think.

 

Others picked up the challenge. Steve Fonyo was a young Quebec native who lost his left leg to cancer at age 12. In 1984, at age 18, he embarked on a run across Canada entitled the Journey for Lives to raise funds for cancer research.  He completed it 425 days later on May 29, 1985, covering 7,924 kilometres (4,924 miles), and raising $14 million. But sadly, he never ignited the kind of support that Terry Fox did. I was surprised to learn on the internet that he died in 2022.    

 

More inspiring was  Rick Hansen. Following a pickup truck crash at the age of 15, Hansen sustained a spinal cord injury and became a paraplegic. Yet he became famous for his Man in Motion World Tour, in which he circled the globe in a wheelchair to raise funds for charity. 

 

Hansen is much more fondly remembered.  He was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2006. He was one of the final torchbearers in the 1988 Winter Olympics and the 2010 Winter Olympics. He was profiled and spoke during the 2010 Winter Paralympics  opening ceremony. He married his caregiver and they had three children.

 

All these heroes were (and are) Canadians. Their fame, especially Fox’s, has lasted. Pierre Trudeau was Prime Minister when Fox made his valiant effort to run across Canada. Today Trudeau is almost forgotten, as are most of the prime ministers who succeeded him, right up to Justin Trudeau who seems soon to be replaced as this is written, yet Fox has persisted.

 

South of the border, a former President, Donald Trump, is on trial this week for fiddling with the books of his company to try to make payments to a former porn star to hide the fact from his wife, and U.S. voters, that he had extramarital affairs. Hardly the image of Terry Fox’s sacrifice.

 

It’s so heartwarming that the story of Terry Fox is still inspiring people 44 years after his unfinished run. Every year, people who weren’t even born when he started his run at the Atlantic take part in completing more of his task, raising even more money for cancer research. With so many dispiriting things happening around us, thanks so much, Terry Fox, for giving us reason to hope, despite the many dispiriting bit of news.