Manitoba has renamed its August civic holiday Terry Fox Day. Why didn鈥檛 British Columbia think of that?
Fox, who had lost a leg to cancer, set out to run across sa国际传媒 to raise awareness of and funds for cancer research in 1980. Although the cancer returned and halted his run near Thunder Bay, Ont., and resulted in his death in 1981, the effort he began has raised more than $600 million for cancer research. The annual Terry Fox Run has become the world鈥檚 largest one-day cancer fundraiser.
Because Fox was born in Manitoba, that province claims him. Fair enough. But he was a sa国际传媒 boy, having moved to this province with his family when he was about eight years old. He did most of his growing up in Port Coquitlam. He began his run by dipping his leg in the ocean near St. John鈥檚, N.L., with the goal of ending the run in his home province at Mile 0 in Victoria, where his statue now stands.
His gritty determination stirred an outpouring of emotion and generosity unmatched in Canadian history, and admiration for him has been manifested in an array of impressive honours: Companion of the Order of sa国际传媒, the youngest person to be so honoured; Order of the Dogwood, sa国际传媒鈥檚 highest award; a permanent exhibit in sa国际传媒鈥檚 Sports Hall of Fame; the Lou Marsh Award as sa国际传媒鈥檚 top athlete in 1980; a Rocky Mountain peak named after him.
In a 1999 national survey, he was named sa国际传媒鈥檚 greatest hero. In 2004, the CBC program The Greatest Canadian ranked him second only to Tommy Douglas, considered the father of Canadian medicare.
sa国际传媒 Day was enacted to honour the pioneers of the province. It would not dishonour their memory to change the focus to the young British Columbian who showed the world what an ordinary person can achieve with extraordinary effort.
