The Story of Terry Fox

Terry Fox, Canadian, lost a leg to cancer and in 1980 set out to run the length of Canada to raise money for cancer research. He completed the run on his prosthesis and became a symbol of hope and strength for Canadians in the process. Last weekend, the 30th Terry Fox run took place and where Fox had hoped to raise $1 million for cancer research, he is credited with bringing more than $500 million in. Amazing.

If you're trying to picture this achievement, call up the scene in Forrest Gump where he decides to run coast to coast and does so (several times). That scene was modeled after the TRUE story of Terry Fox. Fox and one of his buddies started the run with no press, just Fox running and his buddy driving a van in support - they lived out of the van. As he made progress on the run, the nation caught on, he drew a lot of media attention, people began running along side of him and towns hosted rallies for him.

It took Fox 143 days to run the 3,339 miles - meaning he AVERAGED more than 23 miles a day.

Fellow Canadian, Steve Nash, just completed a documentary on Fox who was a hero to a young Nash in British Columbia. It airs on ESPN this week.

BAD. ASS.