Hope

It was 25 years ago today that Terry Fox started his Marathon of Hope across Canada. I was a 4th grader at the time and we watched, rapt, the news every evening to follow his progress. Even at 8 years old I understood the magnitude of what he was attempting. Terry never finished his marathon, his cancer came back and he died a short time later. But Terry Fox has remained in my heart these 25 years, I think of him, and the amazing things he accomplished and that were accomplished in his name, often. I wonder how the humble, somewhat stubborn and extremely big hearted young man would think of the legacy he left. I wonder if his marathon would have accomplished so much if he hadn't been struck down half way through. Because nothing demonstrated the heartlessness of cancer like seeing such a vibrant young man fall. Yet even in death he was not defeated, and perhaps because of his death mankind will ultimately triumph over cancer.

That would be the most fitting legacy.