October 2024
It was 24 July 1980, when Terry Fox ran along Yonge Street in Richmond Hill, Ontario, past a small parkette on the east side of the road. The young Canadian runner had begun his cross-Canada run, the Marathon of Hope, in support of cancer research a little over two-months prior in St. John’s Newfoundland.
While the reception had initially been very low-key, once Fox crossed into Ontario, crowds were growing and growing, helped in part through the efforts of Bill Vigars, public relations officer for the Cancer Society of Canada. Terry was forced to give up his run on 1 September 1980, just east of Thunder Bay, Ontario, after running 3, 339 miles over 143 days, when the cancer that took his right leg had returned and spread to his lungs.
Terry died less than a year later, on 28 June 1981, at the far too young age of 22. His legacy has been maintained with the erection of numerous statues in his honour, along with the naming, or re-naming, of public schools, including his former high school in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, a theatre, a laboratory, roadways, stadiums, Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker, and even a mountain in the Canadian Rockies.
There were even international honours to Terry. British rock singer Rod Stewart was inspired by Terry’s Marathon of Hope to write the song the song “Never Give Up on a Dream,” from his 1981 album Tonight I’m Yours. Stewart also dedicated his 1981–1982 tour of Canada to Terry, calling it the “Terry Fox Tour.”
Probably the best know tribute to Terry is the annual Terry Fox Runs, held in communities big and small across Canada in mid-September each year since 1980. To date, the annual Terry Fox Runs have raised more than $850 million since 1980, far exceeding Terry’s original goal of a $1 donation from every Canadian (24.5 million in 1980).
Richmond Hill officially dedicated a memorial to Terry in Ransom Park, a little north of Major Mackenzie Drive, on 12 September 2015. The monument takes up most of the park, featuring a bronze statue of Terry, running in mid-stride, along with a map of Terry’s planned route and a Corten steel wall mural, with words describing what Terry means to people.
A metal ribbon winds along the concrete pathway through the park, representing the planned route across Canada, with the ribbon’s appearance changing part way across the park, symbolizing the end of Terry’s Marathon of Hope in Thunder Bay.
Dignitaries in attendance that day were Terry’s brother Fred Fox, his sister Judith, Lieutenant Governor Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Premier Kathleen Wynne, Richmond Hill Mayor Dave Barrow and Richmond Hill resident Glemena Bettencourt, who accompanied Terry along the route from Mississauga, through Richmond Hill, to Parry Sound. This was not her only connection to Terry.
Bettencourt has organized the Terry Fox run in Richmond Hill since 1981, and was a driving force in convincing Richmond Hill City Council to honor him.
When addressing the assembled crowd, Fred Fox noted that Terry would probably be embarrassed by the statue and other tributes, as the Marathon of Hope was never about him, but about raising money for cancer research.
Terry has been gone for over 24 years now, literally a life-time ago, but his spirit lives on. Monuments such as this one across the country, and the annual Terry Fox runs, have allowed Terry to keep running to this day, if only symbolically.
The monument to Terry Fox east of Thunder Bay, near the spot where he was forced to stop his run, symbolically allowing Terry to carry on the Marathon of Hope westward.
Sources: Terry Fox Tribute Unveiled in Richmond Hill – City of Richmond Hill, Terry Fox memorialized with statue in Richmond Hill (yorkregion.com), Book about Canadian hero Terry Fox launches in Richmond Hill (yorkregion.com), Terry Fox – Wikipedia, No Matter What – The Terry Fox Foundation.
