While the planned cross-country run ended suddenly for Fox in Thunder Bay, Ont., now over 40 countries around the world participate in the Terry Fox Run Day.
Author and Toronto Star reporter, Leslie Scrivener, spoke to a full house at Port Colborne’s Roselawn Centre May 27, 2010, calling Fox “a part of our national structure.”
Scrivener, recruited by Fox to write his biography, wrote Terry Fox: His Story in September 1980 and the book was published in June 1981.
“Someone’s going to write a book about me and it might as well be you,” quotes Scrivener of Fox’s words to her after accompanying him on many of those 143 days.
Scrivener’s editors at the Toronto Star recently assigned her to document how, after 30 years, Fox changed and continues to change Canada. That assignment brought memories never forgotten back to the forefront of her heart and mind, she said, such as Fox beginning his day’s run while the moon was still high, much before sunrise.
“There he was, stitching our country together,” said Scrivener. She recalled Fox saying: “ I want to set an example that will never be forgotten.”
“There was an intensity about Terry you couldn’t interrupt while he was running,” said Scrivener.
Challenges and Obstacles Were No Deterrence for Terry Fox
Scrivener told the Roselawn audience the funds for bikes and golf clubs came from summer jobs and Fox grew up determined, tough and competitive. Placing 19th on a 19-member basketball team, Fox went on to win awards, she said. But one morning, Fox fell out of bed which led to the discovery of a rare bone cancer, the type of cancer to often strike young athletes, and he had his leg amputated above the knee. Scrivener said after his treatments were completed, Fox began to run secretly at night, being inspired both by the story of another amputee and the haunting cries for help from the children on the cancer ward. Soon he was telling his mother that he was going to run across Canada to raise funds for cancer research.
The Fox Legacy 30 Years Later
“Although on the national stage for 14 months, 30 years later, Canadians are still fascinated with him,” said Scrivener. She said Fox’s heroic character, the "audacity for athleticism" he possessed, the "clarity of purpose" and his modest nature that resisted all enticements of commercialism are what drew good people to him every step of the way.
According to Scrivener, Fox’s determination to help has resulted in extraordinary strides in 30 years such as:
- 537 Terry Fox Humanitarian Awards have been handed out.
- 32 city streets have been named after him.
- One ice breaker has been named after him.
- One mountain has been named after him.
- 1,164 cancer research grants and awards have been given out.
- To date, about $ 451,737,662 has been invested for research.
The National Cancer Institute of Canada, says Scrivener, no longer oversees the research programs funded by the Terry Fox Foundation.
“The Terry Fox Research Institute now oversees all research programs funded by the foundation.”
According to Scrivener, there is now a 90 per cent survival rate, while there was only a 50 per cent survival rate while Fox was alive.
Grants and awards handed out have led to cases like Roshni Dasgupta who grew up in Regina, Saskatchewan, and is now a pediatric surgeon at Cincinnati’s Children’s Hospital, specializing in children’s cancer. Scrivener quotes Dasgupta as saying she is privileged to be able to give back.
The courage, determination and heroic effort of an 18-year-old has changed Canada and the world in a manner unequaled by any other, says Scrivener.
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