Terry Fox

On Thursday our school participates in the nationwide Terry Fox Run for schools.  It has been difficult to help my students understand what Terry Fox went through as he ran a marathon each day (!) from St. John's to Thunder Bay, or why he did what he did.  How can I encourage my students to at least imagine the pain Terry Fox felt each time he stepped out onto the road to begin his 4 AM runs?  What was it like for Terry to run in the rain, sun, heat, cold, with traffic forcing you off the road?  What inner strength did this person have in order to accomplish his dream of raising $1 from every Canadian to give to cancer research?

I don't know if I can.  Even as a runner I can't imagine running a marathon each day, and not for myself, but for others!  All I can tell my students are these words from Terry himself, and live and model them each day, so that they too might be encouraged to possess some inner strength to live their own dreams, and maybe not for themselves, but for others:

"If I died, I would die happy because I was doing what I wanted to do. How many people could say that?"

"How many people do something they really believe in? I just wish people would realize that anything's possible if you try. Dreams are made if people try."

Read some of Terry Fox's journal entries here.

Though five years out of date, watch this inspiring video: