Terry Fox, 30 Years into His Legacy of Hope

“I’m not a dreamer, and I’m not saying this will initiate any kind of definitive answer or cure to cancer, but I believe in miracles. I have to.” -Terry Fox

On April 12, 1980, Terry Fox dipped his artificial leg in the frigid waters of St. John’s harbour to signify the start of his Marathon of Hope. Thirty years later his story is known around the world and has inspired millions.
And it is the numbers that tell the tale of his legacy:
-Terry trained for 15 months, running over 5,000 kilometres, running every day for 101 days, until he could run 37 kilometres a day
-On the Marathon on Hope he averaged 42 kilometres a day, through six provinces
-he ran 5,373 kilometres in 143 days
– the telethon held after he was forced to stop when the cancer appeared in his lungs raised $10 million
– five months before his death in June of 1981, his dream of raising one dollar for cancer research for every Canadian was realized when the Terry Fox Marathon of Hope fund totaled $24 million
-close to $500 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in his name
-the Terry Fox Foundation is responsible for supporting close to $20 million in discovery based research each year in Canada