Long May You Run: The legacy of Terry Fox lives on
It was 30 years ago this month that Terry Fox had to end his own Marathon of Hope. This Sunday it carries on. If you have the opportunity, I do encourage you to get out and take part in this event. Even thirty years after the fact, Terry Fox still resonates strongly with many Canadians–young and old. His inspiration from back then should speak louder than ever though. According to 2009 statistics 40-45% of Canadians will succumb to cancer in their lifetimes. 
In Terry’s own words, “Somewhere, the hurting must stop.” He took himself to the limits to do what he could do. Now it’s our turn. The Run must go on. We can find a way to turn these stats in the other direction. Terry believed it. If we all do our part, we can make the marathon more like a walk in the park.
Terry Fox served as an inspiration to generations of Canadians now. Let’s not let his dream die. Rise to this challenge and let’s keep hope alive. Paraphrasing Rod Stewart lyrics from his song inspired by you, Terry:
It’ll take a long, long time for us to fill your shoes. It’ll take somebody who’s a lot like you who will never give up on a dream.
Thirty years and counting, the dream lives on.
Dig it!
20 September 2010 at 7:08 AM
roddy, i am surprised given your more “holistic”, “eastern” approach that you are so interested in “finding a cure” rather than exploring the changes in our modern ways of life that have increased cancer risk rates a thousand-fold (ozone depletion, auto pollutants, lead-contaminated water, etc.). the terry fox story is a perfect match for finding a cure, because both are singular events. unfortunately, consciousness-raising about risk factors doesn’t work in quite the same way as the inspiring/heroic “event” of a terry fox.
or, put differently, the too-easy metaphor of an uncompleted “marathon of hope” perhaps needs to be examined more closely?
20 September 2010 at 2:39 PM
Smithers,
Is this not just one more example of why I love you? Of course, of course, critical reflection is more than necessary in regards to this topic. Some of the ways I tried to achieve that (lecturing about this topic on Friday), was to (a) highlight the epic failure of such an inspirational figure to do much in the way of heightening awareness about the rising rates of cancer; (b) the gross imbalance in both the amount of funding and sources of funding (i.e., we casually toss about $400M dollar figures to build a new arena in a Canadian city, yet the Terry Fox Foundation has taken almost 30 years to raise $553M. How did they do it? Fundraising. Regular people opening up their wallets. Sure there is government funding for cancer research, but individual people take it upon themselves to bolster the funding available for innovative treatments.
Brother, I’m conflicted by this greatly. I have a personal history that makes Terry Fox a very inspirational figure. I’ve been involved with his cause (TFR organizer). I lost my mother to cancer. I hate to admit it, but the very first thought in my head when I heard the news of her passing was, “Why? Why didn’t you fight harder?” Terry Fox tried to run across the fuckin’ country (not saying that Terry Fox was the thought in my head at that moment, but the idea in my head is that when someone is battling this disease, there should be no effort too great to win the battle). Of course, of course prevention and causation should be more heavily investigated than treatment or cure. But to respond with the connections to my “eastern” worldview, I too think that at some point “the suffering must end.” It is that selfless effort to help end the suffering of others that I am most impressed with. My celebration of Terry Fox may be nothing more than a reminder that I too could do more. My disappointment with the perceived efforts my mother gave to fighting cancer only pales in comparison to my own failures in doing all I could to ease her suffering.
I realize I’m turning this response into a bit of a confessional, but I hope that the motivations for my endorsement of Terry Fox and the Terry Fox Run are clear. And you picked ‘em up big time, Smithers. The marathon being run is really not to a “cure”, but a run of hope. Hope is what allows us to embrace a future with confidence and optimism. Damned if I’m not gonna keep running that race. That means we must stay engaged, and rethinking and revisiting are a very healthy and productive way to do that. So thank you for your comment, Smithers!
Long may you run, brother!