April 12, 1980 - Terry Fox - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Terry Fox begins his cross-Canada run for cancer research.Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on July 28, 1958, and raised in Port Coquitlam, B.C. His last year of high school, he shared the Athlete of the Year award with a friend. While studying physical education at Simon Fraser University, he was diagnosed with bone cancer and suffered his right leg being amputated six inches above the knee. Suddenly keenly aware of cancer research’s lack of funds, he made it his mission to raise $1 for every person living in Canada – 24 million at the time. Fox began his “Marathon of Hope” when he dipped his artificial leg into the Atlantic Ocean in Saint John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980.He ran 143 days through six provinces and 5,373 kilometres, only to be forced to end his journey outside Thunder Bay, Ontario, when his cancer spread to his lungs. Shortly after Fox arrived home in B.C. for treatment, Governor General Edward Schreyer flew there to name him the youngest person to become a Companion of the Order of Canada – the country’s highest honour. On June 28, 1981, Terry Fox died at the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, B.C. In commemoration, thousands of Canadians participate in the Terry Fox Run every year in September. Together, they’ve raised hundreds of millions of dollars for cancer research.

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