On This Day in History: April 12

Terry Fox starts his run

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I was watching when Terry Fox told the world that cancer had spread to his lungs, and he had to end his Marathon of Hope. He said in a voice thick with emotion, “If there is any way I can get out there again and finish it, I will.” When he spoke those words, I burst into tears.

--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: April 12, 1980--

Dammit. I’m already crying. Hang on. This is gonna be a rough one.

Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg in 1958 and moved to the coast of British Columbia when he was eight. He loved any sport that involved running: rugby, soccer, baseball, and especially basketball. In 12th grade Terry won his high school athlete of the year award jointly with his best friend Doug Alward.

When he was 20, Fox was in a minor car accident that banged his knee, and when it didn’t get better, he sought medical attention. The diagnosis was osteosarcoma, a bone tumor. The doctors said the leg had to come off, and that coupled with new chemotherapy treatments, his chance of survival was 50%. Fox learned that a mere two years previous the odds of survival were only 15%. This sparked his interest in cancer research.

Terry underwent 16 months of cancer treatment and watched other patients die, which filled him with determination. He said he wanted to run a marathon, and started training. At first, he told no one but his best friend Doug that he intended to run a marathon every day until he crossed the length of Canada to raise money for cancer research. His goal was to raise $1 million. Then he decided $10 million. Then, a buck for every one of the then-24 million Canadians. Those numbers got blown away.

He secured funding from the Canadian Cancer Society and corporate sponsors, and on April 12, 1980, Terry dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean in Newfoundland to begin his run. Alward drove the camper van. The early days of the run were plagued with bad weather, asshole drivers, and low donation rates. But then Isadore Sharpe, the CEO of Four Seasons Hotels, who had lost a son to cancer, offered him free accommodation and meals on his journey, pledging $2 per mile plus getting almost a thousand other companies to make the same pledge.

Terry arrived in Ottawa on Canada Day to great fanfare, meeting Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. But Terry never finished the run. After 143 days and 3,339 miles, he suffered terrible chest pain and went to the hospital. The cancer had invaded his lungs. Terry Fox died ten months later. Two months later the first annual Terry Fox Run was held. The event has since spread to over 60 countries and raised almost a billion dollars for cancer research.

Addressing the House of Commons, Prime Minister Trudeau said of Terry, “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.”

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