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Every year many cities in the world, including Abu Dhabi and Dubai, hold the annual Terry Fox Run.
People run, cycle, roller-skate and walk in order to raise money for Cancer Research. But who was Terry Fox?
Terry Fox was one of the most famous Canadians of the 20th century. In fact, he was so famous that the Canadians even named a mountain after him. They have made two films about him. A road bears his name, a postage stamp was issued in his honor. A bronze statue of him overlooks Lake Superior.
Terry’s ambition in life was to become a sports teacher. However, in 1977, he felt a pain in his right knee. Soon after, the doctors told him he had cancer. Terry had to have his leg taken off close to the knee. Luckily, Terry was a strong and determined young man. He was not deterred by losing a leg. He decided that he was going to run across Canada on his good leg and his artificial leg. This way, he would raise money for other young people with cancer. He called it, ‘The Marathon of Hope’. His goal was to raise $1.00 from every Canadian citizen.
He started his run on April 12th 1980. He ran an average of 42 kilometers a day, often in great pain. He ran 5,373 km. over 143 days. Unfortunately, Terry had to stop running on September 1st 1980 because the cancer had spread to his lungs. However, by this time Terry had raised $24.3 million to help people with cancer.
Terry died a year after the start of his run. He was twenty two years old.
Today, the Terry Fox foundation has raised $360 million to help cancer research through its annual runs and other fundraising activities.
So, in February 2007, put your trainers on and run, walk, cycle or roller skate along the Abu Dhabi Corniche and continue the race that Terry started 30 years ago.