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| A hero for us all | |
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| Topic Started: Jun 28 2005, 07:04:24 AM (127 Views) | |
| Kelssek | Jun 28 2005, 07:04:24 AM Post #1 |
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Hero of the Soviet Onion
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No doubt I've rubbed some people the wrong way with my fiery opinions on heroism. So this is a tribute to a person I consider a true hero. My biases are obvious enough, but this man's heroism transcends national borders. Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg and grew up in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. He was a gifted athlete, winning Athlete of the Year awards as a student and playing rugby and basketball, but in March 1977, when he was 19 years old, he was diagnosed with malignant sarcoma - bone cancer - in his right knee. His right leg was amputated six inches above the knee to prevent the cancer from spreading. The night before the operation, his mother gave him an article about a one-legged runner who had competed in the New York Marathon. He resumed his athletic activities with a prosthetic leg, playing on Canada's national wheelchair basketball team. He also competed in the Prince George marathon. He decided that he would raise money for cancer research by running across Canada. The "Marathon of Hope" began on 12 April 1980. The Canadian Cancer Society offered to support him with a van, but otherwise most people were opposed to the idea and even his own mother thought it was crazy. On 12 April 1980, he dipped his prosthetic leg in the Atlantic Ocean, and started to run, aiming to dip it in the Pacific Ocean on the other side of the North American continent. His goal was to raise one dollar for every Canadian - $24 million, but at that point it was little more than a dream. But he ran and ran, the equivalent of one marathon every day for 143 days, on one leg. Through bad weather - 38 deg C heat in Southern Ontario, through irate drivers, who honked at him and ran him off the road. At the end of each day his younger brother and his best friend would pick him up in the van and search for a motel to stay from the night. Away from public scrutiny in the early stages and out in the middle of nowhere, he could easily have cut corners and "cheated", but when he stopped running at the end of the day he would build a mound of rocks at the spot, and only began his run from that point the next day. When people invited him into their homes to offer food and donations, he ensured he went back to the edge of their driveway before he began again. He was determined to run every single inch. As the Marathon of Hope reached the public conciousness, intense media attention was added to the list of fustrations. It was often fustrating for Terry, who would angrily lash out at reporters and people who would plead with him to stop, that it was physically impossible, critics who said he was more hopping than running, people who questioned his motives. He made it painfully clear to anyone who questioned him that every cent raised would go to cancer research. He told doubters of how he would take two "running" steps with his real leg to make sure he wasn't hopping but was, in fact, running across Canada. By this time, people were lining the streets to cheer him on and donations were flooding in. On the morning of 31 August, Terry said that he felt as if he were catching a cold, but he kept running because of the crowd urging him on. But he had pains in his chest and neck and finally stopped on 1 September 1980 just outside Thunder Bay. He was taken to hospital where doctors discovered that the cancer had spread to his lungs. Nevertheless, he vowed to finish the run where he left off. When he stopped, he had completed 5,376km of the journey. Terry never completed the Marathon of Hope. On this day 24 years ago, 28 June 1981, Terry Fox lost his battle with cancer and died surrounded by his family in Port Coquitlam. But his courage and his heroism, to use that apt cliche, lives on. He inspired and still inspires people. The first Terry Fox Run was held that September and up to this year 2005, the 25th anniversary of the Marathon of Hope, the Terry Fox Foundation has raised over $360 million for cancer research, more than 15 times Terry's original goal. With one leg Terry did over 110 marathons in succession against all the odds. Most people with two legs would have a hard time completeing just one. Honours have been heaped upon him since, the Order of Canada, monuments and statues, being voted second place in the poll for The Greatest Canadian, and first place in 1990 when the word "Hero" was also attached. But when he first started that Marathon of Hope, unknown and with an entire continent ahead of him, all he had was his brother and his friend in a van and skeptics who thought he was mad. It makes no difference that he failed to dip his leg in the Pacific. What matters is the sheer determination and strength of character, the will and the dedication to his cause, and that makes him a hero to me. RIP Terrance Stanley Fox, 1958-1981. CBC The Greatest Canadian biography - http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/top_ten/nominee/fox-terry.html The Terry Fox Foundation - http://www.terryfoxrun.org/ |
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Jun 28 2005, 08:26:33 AM Post #2 |
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The Fluffy Horde
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:cry: :cry: I may have disagreed with you in the past, respectfully, but I must truly admit and agree that Mr. Fox is a hero, to anyone, Canadian, American, Mexican, any person. May his soul rest in peace and with God and his spirit live in the Force, forever. Thanks for posting this, lad. |
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| Krechzianko | Jun 28 2005, 08:33:28 AM Post #3 |
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Dictator of the Proletariat
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Wow...that's pretty incredible. |
![]() "Not only does [Krech] have the tongue of a diplomat but a groove the ladies swoon over." -Soul Cancer "Krechziankans are known to simply disregard information to blow the shit outa someone they don't like." -FPS ![]()
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Jul 1 2005, 09:12:14 AM Post #4 |
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The Fluffy Horde
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indeed it is... |
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3:26 AM Jul 11