TerryFoxRun in Sapporo

Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He later went to highschool in Port Coquitlam, B.C. and Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., which is close to Vancouver. Terry was an athlete. He wasn’t particularly gifted, but through mental toughness, sheer guts and hard work he transformed himself into a formidable athlete in basketball, soccer, rugby and cross-country running. In university, Terry’s world was shattered when a pain in his knee was diagnosed as cancer. Terry’s leg was amputated and the cancer seemed to have been caught in time. It was during his stay in the cancer clinic that he got the idea for running across Canada. His feeling after seeing so much pain and suffering in the hospital was, “Somewhere, the hurting must stop.”He felt an urge to do something since he had  been given a second chance. After 15 months of training with his new artificial leg, Terry began his Marathon of Hope on April 12, 1980 in Newfoundland, on the east coast of Canada. While only halfway into his run, after averaging a full marathon a day,  Terry was struck with tragedy a second time — the cancer had spread from his leg to his lungs and he became too weak to finish his run. On June 28, 1981 Terry Fox died. While his run was over, his Marathon of Hope would continue on as the annual Terry Fox Run and raise millions and millions of dollars for cancer research in numerous countries around the world. Come and run with us in memory of Terry Fox and his quest to eradicate cancer.