Terry Fox
1958 – 1981 · Canada
Known for: Ran a marathon a day across Canada on one leg
“I just wish people would realize that anything's possible if you try.”
Biography
At 18 he lost his right leg to cancer. At 21, Terry Fox set out to run across Canada, a marathon every single day on an artificial leg, to raise a dollar from every Canadian for cancer research. His Marathon of Hope covered 5,373 kilometres in 143 days, a hopping, determined stride that a nation fell in love with.
The cancer returned and forced him to stop before the finish, and he died the next year at 22. But the run never ended: the annual Terry Fox Run is now the world's largest single-day cancer fundraiser, held in dozens of countries, and has raised over 850 million dollars. A young man who couldn't finish his own race started one that will never stop.