The Terry Fox Run takes place September 20, 2026 and has been run by the Terry Fox Foundation continuously from 1981. For those who may not have heard of this amazing man I will give you a little background. He went to the Doctor because he had a pain in his knee when he was 18 years old studying for a degree in kinesiology. He was diagnosed with Osteogenic sarcoma, a type of bone cancer and had to have his leg amputated from the knee down. It was while he was in the hospital with other young cancer patients that he decided to run across Canada (using a prosthetic leg) to raise funds for cancer research. Running across Canada is not something you take likely.
Terry Fox planned to run approximately 8,000 kilometres (roughly 5,000 miles) across Canada, from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Vancouver Island, British Columbia. His 1980 Marathon of Hope aimed to raise funds for cancer research, with a target of $1 for every Canadian citizen.
He ran a full marathon (roughly 42 km or 26 miles) every day. EVERY DAY! No matter what the weather. I was working as a bartender at the Richmond Inn when he came through Richmond Hill and went out to watch him go by. I don’t think I realized just what his destiny would be but he was definitely a hero. By the time he hit Thunder Bay he had covered 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles) over 143 days.
Unfortunately his cancer returned and he had to quit his marathon in September, 1980 and died at just 22 on June 28th, 1981. Terry Fox was invested as the youngest-ever Companion of the Order of Canada on September 19, 1980, in a special ceremony in his hometown of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. He is and always will be a symbol of hope for those who are touched by cancer.
REFLECTIONS OF A SWAMPER 