Terry Fox: Role Model and Inspiration

In a country that frowns upon self-promotion, Canadians prefer modest heroes. This is true even when a hero’s fame lives on long after him, touches millions of people beyond the country’s borders and when his accomplishment has resulted in almost $700 million being raised for an important cause.

Terry Fox was 22 years old in 1980 when he set out to run approximately 8,000 kilometres across Canada. This was a rarely attempted feat, and the fact that Fox planned to do so on one leg made his efforts even more remarkable. The other leg had been amputated six inches above the knee in 1977, so he relied on a prosthetic (see Terry Fox and the Development of Running Prostheses). Fox’s goal was to raise attention and money for cancer research. [MORE]