Marathon of Hope

Today is the 25th Anniversary of Terry Fox's "Marathon of Hope", and every school across Canada is running for the first time on the same day. For those who don't know who he was, Terry Fox is perhaps the Greatest Canadian Hero... ever.

Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15 centimetres (six inches) above the knee in 1977.

Terry started his run in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980. He ran the equivilent of a marathon a day (42 kilometres or 26 miles) through Canada's Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario.

On September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles), Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario because the cancer had spread to his lungs.

Terry passed away on June 28, 1981. He was 22.

To date the Terry Fox Foundation has raised more than $360 million in his name through the annual run.

Also, Douglas Coupland's (another Canadian (we rock!)) book "Terry" is available and all of Coupland’s royalties go to the Terry Fox Foundation! In addition to that the publisher is doubling the value of royalties, meaning that a lot of money is going to a very worthy cause!