Today was the Terry Fox Run at Jaia’s school. Everyone went out at 1:00 pm to walk/run to raise money for the Terry Fox Foundation, even the teeny kindergardeners who held on to a rope and trudged along together around the course.
I was 5 years old when Terry Fox dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean as he began his quest to run across Canada to raise money to fight cancer. I did not know then how important this man would be nor did I realize how much his efforts would, so many years later, come to touch me through the experiences of so many of the people in my life.
Over the last couple of years I have seen the destruction that this disease can cause. I have looked cancer in the face as it has robbed me of family and friends. People I loved and people that I miss dearly. Every. Single. Day.
Throughout his run from Newfoundland to Thunder Bay, when he was forced to stop after finding out that the cancer had spread to his lungs, he asked Canadians to donate one dollar. One single dollar to his cause. And they did. Terry Fox managed to raise 24 million dollars before his death in 1981. The legacy that grew from the Marathon of Hope almost 30 years ago has now raised over 500 million dollars in the fight against cancer.
Terry Fox is a hero.
When I told Jaia that she’d be walking in the Terry Fox Run with her school, she was curious. So we explained who he was and why he was so important. We cued up a couple of clips on YouTube, which she watched with wide eyes. Seeing him made her want to take part. She was proud to bring in her own tooney and deposit it in the bag with the rest of the money.
Very coincidentally, the day before the run, we found ourselves downtown and in front on the Parliament buildings – and also in front of the Terry Fox statue. Jaia looked up at it like it was larger than life. She studied his leg and got up close to it to touch it, as if that might help it make a little more sense to her, a three year old.
Going from a kid who adores Clifford the Big Red Dog and all things princess, to one who, over the last couple of days, is beginning to comprehend the magnitude of what a man with one leg accomplished so many years ago speaks volumes to the influence that Terry Fox still has on each and every Canadian.
Auntie Jenny - awesome story
linds - this is amazing shan. i even got a little teary eyed. terry fox was most definitely a hero and so is the little girl sitting under him for donating to the fund to help beat cancer.
Gary - Steve Nash and an actual movie director did a documentary on Terry Fox that released this year. It was on TSN a couple of times. It was awesome.