TERRY FOX   'Marathon of Hope'

Twenty-two year old Terry Fox stood on the beach near St. John's Newfoundland on April 12, 1980, as a cold spring rain washed over him. We can only wonder what he was thinking as he looked out across the Atlantic Ocean on that blustery day. It's pretty certain though, that as he turned west and looked towards his parent's place on Vancouver Island, the only thought in his mind was getting home.

This year more than a million people in 50 countries around the world came together on September 14 to honour that journey and to raise money for cancer research.

Across Canada there were 1100 events that saw people run, bicycle, walk, and in-line skate in the 23 rd annual Marathon of Hope. They raise $15 million across Canada with close to $3 million of that coming from Ontario.

In Belleville 294 participants raised just over $26 thousand, by covering the 10 km course that started at the Ramada Inn. It was another day that began with rain, and mid morning the event organizer Betty Moon-Rae saw the sun break through grey clouds and a rainbow arch across the sky. "Makes you kind of feel like Terry's looking down on us," she said wistfully.

And who knows. Maybe he was.

Terance Stanley Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, July 28, 1958, and grew up an average sports loving kid, in Port Coquitlam, BC. When he was 18 years old his life changed forever when doctors told him he had a form of bone cancer called osteogenic sarcoma. Not long after that, to save his life, they amputated his right leg six inches above the knee.

While he was recovering in the hospital, Terry met some young children with cancer and decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.

He ran through the Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario-logging an average of 42 kilometres per day. Belleville Mayor George Zegouras told those at the Marathon that he remembered Terry passing through town in the summer of 1980. Hundreds of people had turned out to cheer for the brave young man and Zegouras had proudly given him the key to the city.

Terry ran all that summer until September 1^st just outside Thunder Bay, Ontario. He'd been coughing the last few days with a dull, blunt pain in his chest that would not go away.

He ran with that hip-hop style of his, pushing himself to the top of a hill lined with cheering supporters. Later Terry would say that he thought this might be his last mile. He'd run 5,373 km in 143 days.

Soon after, Doctors confirmed that the cancer had spread to his lungs. Terry's running days were over. He'd raised $24.7 million dollars for Cancer Research. The world was saddened to hear of his death on June 28, 1981.

To date, almost $300 million has been raised for cancer research in Terry's name through the annual Terry Fox Run, held across Canada and 620 locations around the world.

Terry might have seemed like any one of us when he started his trip. But by the end of his marathon the young man with curly hair and a shy smile had stood before cheering crowds of thousands and told his story. I dont feel that this is unfair. Thats the thing about cancer," Terry once said.  "Im not the only one, it happens all the time to people. Im not special. This just intensifies what I did. It gives it more meaning. Itll inspire more people. I just wish people would realize that anythings possible if you try; dreams are made possible if you try."