Terry Fox
Runner — born 1958
Terry Fox was a Canadian athlete who became a national hero by embarking on a marathon to raise funds for cancer research.
Terry Fox was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer-research activist whose 1980 Marathon of Hope — a cross-Canada run intended to raise $1 million for cancer research — became one of the Canadian humanitarian moments of the 20th century. He was born Terrance Stanley Fox on July 28, 1958, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, the second of four children in a working-class Canadian family. The family relocated to Surrey and then Port Coquitlam, British Columbia during his childhood.
His 1977 osteosarcoma (bone cancer) diagnosis at age 18 led to the amputation of his right leg above the knee. The November 9, 1977 amputation came days after his 19th birthday. His Vancouver-area hospital experience — particularly his exposure to young cancer patients including teenagers and young children — shaped his subsequent commitment to cancer-research philanthropy.
His Marathon of Hope began on April 12, 1980, at the Canadian Atlantic-coast town of St. John's, Newfoundland — where Fox dipped his prosthetic right leg in the Atlantic Ocean before beginning his westward run. His plan was to run the equivalent of a full marathon (42 km / 26.2 miles) every day for five months across the 5,300 miles of Canada — finishing at the Pacific coast. The substantial Canadian press coverage of his Atlantic-coast and Quebec runs initially produced limited public attention, but the Ontario portion of his run produced substantial Canadian and international press coverage.
The Marathon of Hope ended on September 1, 1980, at Thunder Bay, Ontario — at the point of 3,339 miles run across 143 days — when Fox was forced to stop due to the lung cancer that had spread from his original osteosarcoma. He died on June 28, 1981, at age 22, at Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster, British Columbia. The September 1981 establishment of the Terry Fox Run — the annual one-day cancer-research fundraising event held in over 60 countries — has continuously raised over $850 million for Canadian cancer research.
His name Terry is the English short form of Terence (from the Latin Terentius, an old Roman family name). Terry has been continuously among the most-popular American boys' names for decades.
About the name Terry
Gender: Female · Origin: English
Abbreviation Of Teresa Which Is A Popular Saint's Name Of Uncertain Meaning.