The Terry Fox Run is a run around the world every year to raise money for cancer research. It is a non-competitive run, just people joining to raise money for cancer research.
His story
Terry Fox had a car crash and a year later he had osteosarcoma (a type of bone cancer) and had his right leg amputated. Three years after losing his leg, he decided to run from coast to coast in order to raise fund for cancer research and hence started the "Marathon Of Hope". This is the letter he sent to the Canadian Cancer Society to request for some fund for his run
"My name is Terry Fox. I am 21 years old, and I am an amputee. I lost my right leg two-and-a-half years ago due to cancer. The night before my amputation, my former basketball coach brought me a magazine with an article on an amputee who ran in the New York Marathon. It was then when I decided to meet this new challenge head on and not only overcome my disability, but conquer it in such a way that I could never look back and say it disabled me. But I soon realized that would only be half of my quest, for as I went through the sixteen months of the physically and emotionally draining ordeal of chemotheraphy, I was rudely awakened by the feelings that surrounded and coursed through the cancer clinic. There were the faces with the brave smiles, and the ones who had given up smiling. There were the feelings of hopeful denial, and the feelings of despair. My quest would not be a selfish one. I could not leave knowing these faces and feelings would still exist, even though I would be set free from mine. Somewhere the hurting must stop...and I was determined to take myself to the limit for this cause.
I feel now is the time to make good my promise. I have been training for eight months, running on an artificial leg. Starting with half a mile, I have now worked up to thirteen-and-a-half a day, adding half a mile weekly. By April next year [1980], I will be ready to achieve something that for me was once only a distant dream reserved for the world of miracles; to run across Canada to raise money for the fight against cancer. The running I can do, even if I have to crawl every last mile. But there are some barriers I cannot overcome alone. We need your help. The people in cancer clinics all over the world need people who believe in miracles. I am not a dreamer and I'm not saying that this will initiate any kind of definitive answer or cure to cancer, but I believe in miracles. I have to."
Sadly his cancer had metastasised (spread) to his lungs and he had left ventricular hypertrophy (left heart enlarged) hence after running for 143 days, he had to stop on 1st Sept 1980 yet his run reached out to the heart of his people and Terry Fox's dream of getting one dollar from every single Canadian for cancer research had been realized. After battling with the complications of his cancer, he passed away 1 year after his great run.
Touching isn't it?? I joined this run in 2004 and I am running again this Sunday, 1st Nov. Care to join??
Terry Fox Run KL 2009
Sunday
1 November 2009
Flag off @ 9.00 a.m.
Taman Tasik Perdana
(Lake Gardens)
No comments:
Post a Comment