Terry Fox

Hello. My name is Terry Fox, and I am from a big country called Canada. When I was a boy, I loved to be outside. My favorite thing to do was run. I would run in the park and play games with my friends. I also loved to play all kinds of sports. I played basketball and I played soccer. Running and playing made me feel so happy and strong. It was the best feeling in the world to move my body and have fun.

One day, I got sick with something called cancer. It made my leg very sore, and the doctors had to remove it to help me get better. It was sad, but I got a special new leg to help me walk and run again. While I was getting better, I saw other people who were sick, and I felt I had to help them. So, I came up with a big idea. In the year 1980, I decided to run all the way across my country, Canada. I called my special run the Marathon of Hope. My goal was to ask everyone to give a little money to help doctors find a way to make cancer go away forever.

Running every day was very, very hard. I ran for a long, long time, but I had to stop before I finished my run across Canada. The cancer came back and I was too sick to keep going. I lived to be 22 years old. Even though I couldn't finish my run, my big idea did not stop. Now, every year, people all over the world have a Terry Fox Run to remember my Marathon of Hope. They run to keep my dream going and to help find a cure for cancer. My hope keeps running on and on.