On this day, November 12, 1976, it seemed like any other day.
A car accident and a seemingly innocuous diagnosis: a right knee injury.
Nothing serious—or so it seemed at the time.
And yet, in the months that followed, the pain not only remained, but grew worse.
Finally, the brutal, merciless truth arrived: osteosarcoma—a malignant bone tumor that can strike suddenly and take one's life.
Terry Fox, then not yet twenty years old, found himself faced with a choice no one should have to make: the amputation of his right leg and its replacement with a mechanical prosthesis.
Today we have modern solutions, but back then… even walking was a heroic effort.
Let alone running.
But Terry didn't give up.
Three years later, on April 12, 1980, he decided to do something that seemed impossible:
run across Canada from coast to coast.
On foot. With one leg.
The goal?
To raise one dollar from every Canadian and donate it all to cancer research.
Thus was born a race that made history: the “Marathon of Hope.”
Every day he ran the marathon distance — 42 kilometers. Every day.
He went through Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario…
It was an epic, inhuman challenge — no professional athlete had dared to repeat it.
After 143 days and 5,373 kilometers, he had to stop.
The cancer had attacked his lungs.
He no longer had the strength, not because he lacked courage, but because his body refused to obey.
It was September 1, 1980.
By then, he had already raised $24 million.
A little less than a year later, on June 28, 1981, he passed away.
He didn’t even live to see his 23rd birthday.
His marathon was completed a few years later by Steve Fonyo — also a cancer survivor, also with an amputated leg.
In this way, the “Marathon of Hope” came to its symbolic end.
I write these words with admiration and sadness.
Today, hordes of teenagers (and not only them) flock to stores to buy T-shirts of overpaid athletes who are worshipped as gods for every goal, dunk or dribble. There are also those who abused the image and work of this young man for their own selfish purposes, but they should not be given much attention.
There are champions.
And there are heroes.
There are sports legends.
And there is the one who ran for hope.
There are famous names.
And then… there is TERRY FOX.
