Terry Fox Day

I cannot think of a Canadian man, young or old, past or present, who demonstrated more courage than that of Terry Fox.

You could go on and on about his legacy about his brief life which ended a month shy of his 23rd birthday, and in comparing his life to your own, yours would always seem to come out short.

For a young man who lost his right leg to a disease that his name has now raised over 400 million dollars for, and to start an overly ambitious run starting from Newfoundland to run across Canada in support of cancer research without sponsorship, media exposure, or money and to do it all on one leg, is surely an altruistic effort that most likely will never be able to be repeated.

Terry's dream of raising a dollar from every Canadian then living in Canada (just under 25 million people at the time) was realized before he dies in the summer of 1981, and to date, his legacy continues on to save people's lives from his sacrifice, and unselfish dream.

We have all known or lost someone to Cancer. It is a terrible disease that robs that human being of dignity, and reduces them to someone that you never want to see. Knowing that Terry's dream 30 years ago has saved countless lives because of the ability to identify and treat cancer before it claims lives, is something that every person living with someone with cancer, or someone battling it, owes in part to Terry Fox.

In my own family, cancer has taken each of my 4 grandparents, a beloved uncle, and many friends. One of the success stories that my eyes have seen is my friend Henry when he battled throat cancer this time last year and beat it. Watching him during this time was difficult, but I can only imagine what living like that, and having to live day in and day out, was like. His wife Pavanne is a dear best friend of mine, and I have never seen strength and faith like I have in that household during that time. It was inspirational to me, and I will never forget it. This story ends with a happy ending, as Henry won his battle with throat cancer. This means that his wife and 2 young sons will be able to continue to love a truly wonderful human being for a while longer. And I would like to think that people like Terry Fox had a part in prolonging this man's life.

There must be hundreds of thousands of stories like this one out there worldwide, but this is the one that is nearest and dearest to me, so I thought I would share it with you on Terry Fox Day.

Steve Nash, the 2 time NBA MVP has worked in bringing the latest movie about Terry Fox, and it airs tonight on TSN2 at 7pm. If you want to see a truly inspirational story that will move you to tears, I suggest that you take the time with your family to watch it.

Thank You, Terry Fox...