[0:02]The Terry Fox Foundation Presents
[0:09]I want to try the impossible, to show it can be done.
[0:21]I believe in miracles. I have to.
[0:29]I'm going to take myself to the limit for this cause.
[0:49]This afternoon at 2:45 in St. John's Harbor, Terry Fox dipped his foot into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. When Terry Fox was 18 years old, doctors discovered cancer in his right leg. It would change his life and change Canada forever. And one morning I woke up and I couldn't get out of bed and that day they told me I had a malignant tumor and that I had to have my leg amputated in in four days. And I decided after my year and a half of chemotherapy that I try and run across Canada and raise as much money as I could. When he first started the run across Canada at the age of 21, almost no one noticed. He ran alone, 42 km a day, a full marathon on one leg, every day of the week. He endured every type of weather in Newfoundland. There was rain, sleet, and snow.
[1:40]Because he was running westward, Terry was often running directly into the wind. Terry loved the early morning, so he would often get up at 4:00 a.m. anyways and start running and get a few miles in, stop for breakfast, and then he would finish the rest of his miles off. His best friend, Doug Alward, trailed in a van behind him. He ran from Newfoundland towards his hometown of Vancouver, where he planned to finish the run and pour water he collected from the Atlantic into the Pacific, symbolically uniting our country. The prosthetic that Terry had was actually a walking leg. Back in the 1980s, people didn't run on prosthetic legs. Running on his prosthetic leg was incredibly painful for Terry. His stump would chafe and bleed. I don't run a normal step, you know, I have to take an extra hop on my real leg in order to that time for my other official leg to come through. He set many goals for himself and he had to work incredibly hard to achieve them. When I'm running each day, I take one day at a time. When I'm running, I take one mile at a time and I take one corner at a time. Every signpost I'm looking at it and and reaching out for that signpost. Every corner I'm reaching out and this is the type of thing I'm thinking of when I'm running. The night before Terry's operation, you know, I visited Terry. It was just him and me and I and his hospital room and all I could think of saying to Terry at the time was, Terry, why do you have to have cancer?
[3:08]Why not me? Why not somebody else? Why you? And Terry's answer immediately was, why not me, Fred? I've been told all my life, I'm not the biggest, I'm not the strongest, I'm not the fastest or the smartest. This is just another challenge I have to overcome. Terry's determination began to pay off. People began to take notice. When running through a town of 10,000 people, he raised $10,000, $1 for every person. He changed his goal of raising $1 million for cancer research to $24 million, $1 for every Canadian. So when Terry was in hospital, one of the nurses thought that it would be better for him to be placed in the children's ward. He was surrounded by kids who were suffering from cancer as well. Those are the faces that he never forgot. I'm trying now because there's somebody here right now who is going through the same thing that I went through, exact same thing and he's only 10 years old. And I, I had the most inspirational day in my life today. At the time of Terry's diagnosis, his chance of survival was around 50%. Had Terry been diagnosed a few short years earlier, he would have been faced with a 30 or 35% chance of survival. It was right there that Terry learned the importance of cancer research and raising money to find a cure for cancer. You know, sometimes I have to run in a lot of pain and I get pretty tired, but I don't see all in you when I get the support like that. So you I just like to thank you for that. The support kept growing. News media across Canada began to cover Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope with daily updates of where he was.
[5:06]Terry wasn't running across Canada to become famous or to become rich. He wanted to make a difference in other people's lives.
[5:17]There was absolutely no question that this was some iconic event that was happening. Talking about cancer publicly was something that really wasn't done very much. He made it okay to talk about cancer and that was the first most important step to then allow the rest of the population to do what needed to be done to start thinking of raising funds for cancer research. Researchers across Canada have devoted their lives to learning what cancer is and how to cure it. We have lots of cells in our body and what happens with cancer cells is they forget to grow up. They just start dividing and dividing and making more and more of themselves and become a huge lump. And that lump essentially is cancer. Today, thousands of schools across Canada raise money for cancer research by participating in the Terry Fox Run. When I say Terry, you say Fox! Terry! Fox! Terry! Fox! It is so good to see you here all wearing your Terry Fox shirts. Schools all across Canada from as far as St. John's, Newfoundland all the way to Victoria BC, raise so much money for cancer research in his honor. I'm a cancer survivor of the same cancer that Terry had called osteosarcoma. My dad and I were about to go out fishing when he noticed one of my shoulder blades was visibly much larger than the other. That was the night that they told me that I had a form of bone cancer in my right shoulder blade. Terry said that I remember promising myself if I should survive, then I'll prove myself deserving of life. And that was something that I carried into my own journey that if I should survive, that I will prove myself deserving of life, that I will keep fundraising. More money equals more research. More research equals more hope. There are so many other Canadians who are dealing with their own battles in cancer, and that's why we need to fundraise to help those people.
[7:28]There were a couple of nights where I had woken up feeling a pain in my hip. My mom took me to the family doctor after school one day. They transferred us to Sick Kids where they found out that I had leukemia. One of the most common child cancers is called leukemia, which is a cancer of the white blood cells, the cells that fight infections. Around the time that I was born, only 2% of children with leukemia survived, and now over 90% do. I started to feel better, actually, uh, pretty soon. It was only like a year later that I started going back to hockey and running around and not my regular self, but much better than I had been.
[8:14]Terry had a dream of running from one end of Canada to the other. He took a long and winding route through the country and had run over 5,000 km. He was just east of Thunder Bay, Ontario when things started to change. Terry knew earlier on that something was wrong. It was very rare for him to want to go and see a doctor. So when they stopped in Thunder Bay, everybody knew that something very serious was happening. I had noticed a little bit of hardness and breathing. Near the end of the day, 18 miles, um, I was coughing and choking and I had pain in my neck and my chest. And I did three more miles and I had to, I decided I had to go see a doctor. And, uh, that I had primary, originally I had primary cancer in my knee three and a half years ago. And, uh, that the cancer had spread and I've got cancer in my lungs. And, uh, all I can say is that the very least I can do is try and give it all and finish it up well. Terry had to stop the run and fly home to Vancouver to undergo more cancer treatment. At 22 years old, Terry became the youngest person ever to be awarded the Order of Canada, an award that recognizes outstanding achievement and dedication to the service of our country. Terry Fox's courage in embarking on the Marathon of Hope has won him the admiration and affection of Canadians from coast to coast. Nine months later, he would pass away in the hospital. I said to people before that I'm going to do my very best to make it. I'm not going to give up, and that's true. But I might not make it and if I don't make it, the very Marathon of Hope better continue. Terry reached his goal of raising $24 million. In honor of his legacy, the Terry Fox Foundation was born with a mission to fundraise for cancer research to ultimately find a cure. What started as one person back in 1980, just Terry on his Marathon of Hope, has grown to over 8,500 schools and millions of students across the country participating in the Terry Fox Run. The foundation has raised over $750 million for cancer research in Terry's name. What is the future looking like? Very bright, I would say. I know researchers are getting closer and closer every day to hopefully one day find that ultimate cure. 80% of the children that I treat are cured of cancer. 80%. And until this 80% becomes 100%, we will have not achieved what we need to. And that is what cancer research will help us accomplish. Every September, schools get creative with fundraising and go full swing into promoting their Terry Fox Run. All the fundraising and the money that goes into it is like going towards cancer research and it's something worth running for. I'm thankful for the donors and the schools across Canada that really helped in in my journey with cancer and allowed me to be here today. Every September, schools from Newfoundland to BC and up to Nunavut launch their Terry Fox Run with fundraising goals. Following his example of courage, determination and compassion. Let's all be like Terry. On the count of three, repeat after me. I want to fight cancer. I want to fight cancer. I want to fight cancer. I want to fight cancer. One, two, three. I want to fight cancer!
[12:28]Really, it's up to you guys. The sky is the limit in what you want to do for your fundraising goals. There are several different ways that you guys can fundraise. You can simply collect donations just as Terry did. You can set fundraising goals and fill out pledge sheets, and there's another way that you can collect donations as well online at the Terryfox.org. Set a goal just like Terry did. At Terryfox.org, simply go to Terry Fox School Run. Then click on donate to a student/school. Then begin typing the name of your school and select it from the list below. Donors can click sponsor us to make a direct donation to your school, or you can click students set up your page to make your own student fundraising page. Once you set up a student fundraising page, you'll receive a link to share with friends and family to help collect donations. Reaching your goal has never been easier. Your fundraising really gives hope to me as a cancer survivor and also gives hope to those who are still battling in their cancers. You have the power to make a difference, just like Terry did. Go to Terryfox.org.
