Terry Fox
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Terrance Stanley Fox | |
 Terry Fox in Toronto during his Marathon of Hope cross-country run (July 1980).
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| Born | July 28, 1958 Winnipeg, Manitoba |
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| Died | June 28, 1981 (aged 22) |
| Cause of death | Metastatic osteosarcoma |
| Known for | Marathon of Hope |
| Title | Companion of the Order of Canada |
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, which Fox ran 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.
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Biography
Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to Rolly and Betty Fox. He was raised in Vancouver, British Columbia and then moved to the family home on Morrill Street in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, with his older brother Fred[1], his younger brother Darrell, and his sister Judith.
Sports
Four things were evident about him; first, he loved sports of all kinds - soccer, rugby union, baseball, and diving. Second, he was not tall; hence he had to work harder than the bigger kids. Third, he was extremely competitive. Lastly, he had a huge amount of determination. Fox's father, Rolly Fox, recalls that his son was very competitive in everything from board games to table hockey.[2] Rolly notes that "if you were better than him at the start, he'd keep playing until he was better than you...It didn't matter what it was, he hated to lose."[3]
In junior high school, Fox loved basketball and wanted to play guard on the Mary Hill Cobras team. He was only 5 feet tall at the time and mediocre at the game. In order to achieve his goal, he spent every day practicing his basketball skills. By grade ten, he was one of the best guards. In senior high school he was a starting guard for the Port Coquitlam Ravens. Thus, he achieved his goal because of his determination. In grade eight, Bob McGill, his physical education teacher suggested Fox should try out for cross country running. At that time, Fox completely had no interest in running but he started training anyway, because he had so much respect for his coach. Fox found the running exhausting but at the end, his coach praised his work ethic. And Fox kept that to the end of his days.
In his teenage years, 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, instead he pursued his dream of becoming a physical education teacher. After graduating with honours from Port Coquitlam Senior Secondary School (which was later renamed Terry Fox Secondary School in his honour), he studied kinesiology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. Fox was an active student at SFU and participated in a variety of on-campus clubs and groups.
Crash
On November 12, 1976, Fox was driving back home along Port Coquitlam's highway in his green 1968 Ford Cortina. He was distracted by a bridge construction site, and his car slammed into a half-ton truck. Nothing happened to the driver of the truck; Fox came out of the accident with only a sore right knee.
Osteosarcoma
In 1977, after feeling pain in his right knee, he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. This is a form of cancer that strikes men more than women, usually around ages ten to twenty-five. Very often the cancer starts at the knee, then works its way up into the muscles and tendons. At the time, the only way to treat his condition was to amputate his right leg several inches above the knee.
Fox believed that the injury from the 1976 crash had weakened his knee and made it more susceptible to cancer, although his doctors disagreed.[4] The causes of osteosarcoma are not known.
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 from each Canadian citizen.
Canadian Cancer Society letter
Terry Fox began his quest to fight cancer with the Marathon of Hope by sending a letter to the Canadian Cancer Society on October 15, 1979.[5] Here, Fox appealed for funding in order to fulfill his new goal. Fox wrote:
| “ | My name is Terry Fox. I am 21 years old, and I am an amputee. I lost my right leg two-and-a-half years ago due to cancer. The night before my amputation, my former basketball coach brought me a magazine with an article on an amputee who ran in the New York Marathon. It was then when I decided to meet this new challenge head on and not only overcome my disability, but conquer it in such a way that I could never look back and say it disabled me. But I soon realized that would only be half of my quest, for as I went through the sixteen months of the physically and emotionally draining ordeal of chemotheraphy, I was rudely awakened by the feelings that surrounded and coursed through the cancer clinic. There were the faces with the brave smiles, and the ones who had given up smiling. There were the feelings of hopeful denial, and the feelings of despair. My quest would not be a selfish one. I could not leave knowing these faces and feelings would still exist, even though I would be set free from mine. Somewhere the hurting must stop...and I was determined to take myself to the limit for this cause.
I feel now is the time to make good my promise. I have been training for eight months, running on an artificial leg. Starting with half a mile, I have now worked up to thirteen-and-a-half a day, adding half a mile weekly. By April next year [1980], I will be ready to achieve something that for me was once only a distant dream reserved for the world of miracles; to run across Canada to raise money for the fight against cancer. The running I can do, even if I have to crawl every last mile. But there are some barriers I cannot overcome alone. We need your help. The people in cancer clinics all over the world need people who believe in miracles. I am not a dreamer and I'm not saying that this will initiate any kind of definitive answer or cure to cancer, but I believe in miracles. I have to.[6] |
” |
Fox composed a second letter to Imperial Oil, the Ford Motor Company, Adidas and several other companies "asking for gas, a vehicle, running shoes, and money respectively."[7] Fox also sent other letters asking for grants to buy a runnning leg. Fox observed here that while he was grateful to be alive following his cancer treatment, "I remember promising myself that, should I live, I would rise up to meet this new challenge [of fundraising for cancer research] face to face and prove myself worthy of life, something too many people take for granted."[8] With sponsors in place, the Marathon of Hope could now get underway.
Marathon of Hope
Fox began by dipping his leg in the Atlantic Ocean at St. John's, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980. He intended to dip it 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. He also intended to fill another jug of water with water from the Pacific Ocean. He was going 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.[citation needed] While outside Ottawa, Ontario about 3,113 km into his Marathon of Hope, Fox said:
- "...everybody seems to have given up hope of trying. I haven't. It isn't easy and it isn't supposed to be, but I'm accomplishing something. How many people give up a lot to do something good. I'm sure we would have found a cure for cancer 20 years ago if we had really tried."[9]
Fox successfully navigated through Atlantic Canada, and Quebec before receiving a triumphant welcome in Ontario in July and August 1980. Crowds of people lined the streets of Toronto and in cities throughout Southern Ontario cheering him on. On July 11 1980, about 3,523 km into the Marathon of Hope in Toronto, Darryl Sittler presented Fox his NHL all-star team sweater and said: "I've been around athletes a long time and I've never seen any with his courage and stamina."[10]
Unfortunately, however, Fox was unable to complete his run. His bone cancer had metastasized to his lungs: x-rays revealed that Terry's right lung had a lump the size of a golf ball and his left lung had another lump the size of a lemon. He was forced to stop the run on September 1, 1980 just north-east of Thunder Bay, Ontario, after 143 days. He had run 5,373 km or 3,339 miles[11] (roughly 23.3 miles per day) through Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario.
Eight days after Terry Fox was forced to stop, the CTV television network organized a nationwide telethon in hopes of raising additional funds for the cause of cancer research; it proved so successful that $10.5 million was raised alone on this single day.[12] Any celebrities within range of Toronto were invited to participate and many of the guests paid tribute to Fox; TV actor Lee Majors called him "the real Six Million Dollar Man." The campaigns were so successful that by February 1981, $24.17 million dollars had been raised and Terry Fox's dream of getting one dollar from every single Canadian for cancer research had now been realized.[13]
Death
Terry Fox is today considered a national hero of Canada. He was named a Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation's highest civilian honor, on September 18, 1980 by Edward Schreyer, Canada's then serving Governor-General.[14] Schreyer travelled to Port Coquitlam to personally present the medal to Terry himself.[15](CBC Archive film).
In June 1981, Terry developed pneumonia, and on June 27, he went into a coma. He died on the 28th at 4:35 a.m., which was his favourite hour of running, a year after his legendary run, and exactly one month shy of his twenty-third birthday.(CBC Archive film) Flags were flown at half-mast on Canadian government buildings across Canada and overseas while tributes poured in to Terry Fox's family who retreated home to prepare for his burial.[16] Canada's serving Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in his address before Canada's House of Commons said that Terry gave far more to his country than his country was able to give to him. Trudeau also noted that:
- "It occurs very rarely in the life of a nation that the courageous spirit of one person unites all people in the celebration of his life and in the mourning of his death....We do not think of him as one who was defeated by misfortune but as one who inspired us with the example of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity."[17]
On July 3, 1981, Terry Fox's funeral, which consisted of only 40 relatives and 200 invited guests that "reflected the restraint and simplicity he had shown in his life," was broadcast live on national television.[18][19] He is buried in the Port Coquitlam cemetery, near his favourite lookout just outside the cemetery gates.
Run
The Terry Fox Run is run around the world every year to raise money for cancer research. It is non-competitive with no winners or awards, just people joining to raise money for cancer research. Schools all around also participate in the annual Terry Fox Run.
Steve Fonyo, a cancer survivor inspired by Fox, completed the full length of Fox's course in 1984 and 1985. Fonyo's left leg had been amputated.
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.
Biographies
His story is dramatized in the 1983 HBO TV movie The Terry Fox Story, which the Fox family has criticized for negatively depicting Terry Fox 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.
Popular culture
- 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.
- Eric Walters’ fictional book Run is about a troubled teenager who is inspired by a meeting with Terry Fox.
- The late Bishop Daniel Hart, Bishop Emeritus of Norwich, Connecticut, used the story of Terry Fox in his sermons for the Sacrament of Confirmation.
- The story of Terry Fox was told in the U.S. as part of a Long Distance Dedication on the 11 April 1981 episode of the American Top 40 radio show.
Awards and Honours
- Companion of the Order of Canada
- Second place in the CBC's The Greatest Canadian popular vote
- Order of the Dogwood, British Columbia’s highest civilian award
- Lou Marsh Trophy of 1980
- Named athlete of the year in his final year of high school
- Named Canadian Newsmaker of the Year, 1980 and 1981
- Named Canadian of the Year
- Named Canadian of the Decade for '80's
Memorials
Further honours are listed at Terryfoxrun.org
Schools and buildings
- Port Coquitlam Senior Secondary School was renamed Terry Fox Secondary School in 1986. This school was replaced with a new building in 1999 which retains the Terry Fox name, and also houses the Terry Fox Theatre. Across Canada, there are now numerous schools named in his honour including: Terry Fox Elementary School in Barrie, Ontario, Terry Fox Junior High School in Calgary, Alberta, Terry Fox Elementary School, Newmarket, Ontario, Terry Fox Elementary School in Abbotsford, British Columbia, and Terry Fox Elementary School in Bathurst, New Brunswick.
- The Terry Fox Library in Port Coquitlam, a branch of the Fraser Valley Regional Library, was opened in honour of Fox in 1983. The library houses memorabilia of Fox and his run, including the artificial leg that Fox used during his marathon.
- The track at Simon Fraser University is named 'Terry Fox Field' in his honour. A statue of Fox can be found within the Academic Quadrangle, as well as one his t-shirts that he wore in the north part of the AQ.
- A pathway in St. Catharines, Ontario named 'The Terry Fox Trail' in his honour.
- The track at Saskatoon's SaskTel Sports Centre is named 'Terry Fox Track' in his honour.
- The Track & Field stadium in Brampton, Ontario was named 'The Terry Fox Track & Field Stadium' in his honour.
- The main gymnasium at East Northumberland Secondary School in Brighton, Ontario was dedicated to Terry Fox.
- The Terry Fox Youth Centre in Ottawa. Houses of Encounters with Canada.
- The Terry Fox Memorial Pool and Terry Fox Fitness Centre opened in his honour at The Mississauga Valley Recreation Centre in 1982.
- The Terry Fox Laboratory at the British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, a well-known cancer research unit in Vancouver BC, Canada.
- The Terry Fox Sports Complex in Sudbury is a municipally-owned baseball park adjacent to Collège Boréal.
Streets and highways
- Kingston, Ontario: Terry Fox Drive; attached to it is Steve Fonyo Drive
- Mississauga, Ontario: Terry Fox Way
- Ottawa, Ontario (Kanata): Terry Fox Drive
- Thunder Bay, Ontario easterly 100 km (63 miles): The Terry Fox Courage Highway, a section of the Trans Canada Highway
- Vancouver, British Columbia: Terry Fox Way
- Saint-Eustache, Quebec: Terry-Fox Boulevard.
- Mascouche, Quebec: Rue Terry-Fox
- Brighton, Ontario: Terry-Fox Drive.
- Brampton, Ontario: Terry Fox Marathon
- Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario: Terry Fox Place
Other
- CCGS Terry Fox, Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker.
- In 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 a real person other than royalty. It shows Terry running by a background of stone and trees of the Canadian shield. The shot was taken by photographer Gail Harvey.
- Mount Terry Fox (; summit 2,650 metres), near Valemount, British Columbia in the Selwyn range of the Canadian Rocky Mountains was named in his honour three weeks after Fox's death on July 17, 1981[20], as well as Mount Terry Fox Provincial Park
References
- ^ The legacy and the van live on Nova News, June 13, 2008
- ^ Damian Inwood, "Terry Fox: 25 years; Celebrating his dream: a 12-page special section honouring the 25th Annual Terry Fox Run, The Province, Sunday September 18, 2005, p.B3
- ^ Inwood, The Province, Terry Fox, p.B3
- ^ [1]
- ^ Inwood, The Province, Terry Fox, p.B2
- ^ Inwood, The Province, Terry Fox, p.B2
- ^ Leslie Scrivener, Terry Fox: His Story, McClelland & Stewart Ltd, New revised edition, 2000. p.63
- ^ Scrivener, Terry Fox, 2000, p.63
- ^ Inwood, The Province, Terry Fox, p.B7
- ^ Inwood, The Province, Terry Fox, p.B7
- ^ Marathon of Hope story excerpted from Scrivener's revised 2000 book on Terry Fox
- ^ Scrivener, Terry Fox, 2000, pp.168 & 232
- ^ Scrivener, Terry Fox, 2000, p.233
- ^ Honours for Terry Fox
- ^ Scrivener, Terry Fox, 2000, p.233
- ^ Scrivener, Terry Fox, 2000, p.182
- ^ Scrivener, Terry Fox, 2000, p.182
- ^ Scrivener, Terry Fox, 2000, p.182
- ^ Around the World; Canada televises funeral of Young Cancer Victim The New York Times, July 3, 1981
- ^ Scrivener, Terry Fox, 2000, p.233
External links
- CBC Digital Archives - Terry Fox 25: Reliving the Marathon of Hope
- BC Sports Hall of Fame and Museum
- Order of Canada Citation
- The Terry Fox Story at the Internet Movie Database
- Terry at the Internet Movie Database
Biography
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sandra Post |
Lou Marsh Trophy winner 1980 |
Succeeded by Susan Nattrass |
