About Terry Fox
At 18 years of age, Canadian Terry Fox learned that due to bone cancer his right leg would be amputated above the knee. Terry had a terrific spirit that cancer could not defeat. During his ordeal, Terry became convinced that a cure for cancer could be found through cancer research, but funds were in short supply.
Terry decided to run across Canada, some 6,000 miles, to raise money for cancer research. On April 12, 1980 at St. Johns, Newfoundland, Terry dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean and began what he called the "Marathon of Hope". For the next 143 days he ran 26 miles per day, the marathon distance, crossing 3,300 miles until, on September 1, 1980 near Thunder Bay, Ontario, he was forced to stop. The cancer had spread to his lungs. He died on June 28, 1981, a month shy of his 23rd birthday.
Since his death, thousands of runs have been held in Canada and throughout the world in Terry's name to raise funds for cancer research. Help us continue and celebrate Terry's legacy with the Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research (New York).