Today is my school's annual Terry Fox Walk, a fundraising event for cancer research. It has recently been brought to my attention that some don't know why people run the Marathon of Hope, who Terry Fox was, or even that he and his Marathon of Hope exists. This is a mistake I intend to fix.

Terry Fox was a young distance runner and basketball player born July 28th, 1958, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. At 19, he was diagnosed with cancer. He had to have his right leg amputated from the hip down, and was given a prosthetic leg replacement. Terry, not wanting anyone else to have to go through what he did, decided at the age of 21 to run across Canada on his prosthetic leg to raise money for cancer research. Terry aimed to receive a single dollar from each of Canada's 24 million people.

He started on the East Coast in St. John's, Newfoundland, taking a jar of water from the Atlantic to pour into the Pacific when he arrived. Each day, he ran the equivalent of a marathon. As he ran, the media began to pick up on his brave undertaking. Soon, his country-wide trek was being broadcast across Canada, with huge crowds of people flocking behind him to be a part of this amazing journey.

However, Terry's run was cut short outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario, when it was revealed that the cancer had migrated to his lungs. Terry died in nine months later of his cancer, unable to complete his run.

He was the youngest person to be named a Companion of the Order of Canada, as well as winning the 1980 Lou Marsh award and the 1980 and 1981 Canada's Newsmaker of the Year. Every year, Canadians from British Columbia to Nunavut to the Maritimes, as well as millions of people outside of Canada keep Terry's memory and dream alive by raising money for cancer research and taking a walk as a community. It is one of the largest providers of cancer research funding in Canada, having raised over $700 million CAN for cancer research. That amount will continue to grow as more and more people contribute to this worthy cause.

Hopefully, I have taught you a few things about this wonderful Canadian tradition, and maybe even inspired you to hold your own fundraiser in honour of this celebrated Canadian hero if your community lacks one. If we all work together, we can end cancer worldwide.

#TerryFox2017