Monday Musings Season 2 - Episode 88 - Marathon of Hope
MONDAY MUSINGS SEASON 2 – EPISODE 88
The Marathon of Hope
11th January 2021
Parikshit was cursed that he will die in 7 days and spent the rest of his life happily and usefully listening to the stories of Lord Krishna from Sukar thus laying the foundation for a great literature Bagavatham.
Terry Fox emulated similar courage in 20th century when he was told by the doctors that his days are limited.
#TheMarathonOfHope
Terry Fox was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. As a teenager he was involved in many sports. Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15 centimetres (six inches) above the knee in 1977. Terry lost all hope.
The night before Terry underwent his operation, his high school basketball coach brought him a running magazine that featured an article about an amputee who had run in the New York City Marathon. That night Terry dreamt about running across Canada. Terry said. “I’m a dreamer. I like challenges. I don’t give up. When I decided to do it, I knew I was going to go all out. There was no in-between.”
While in hospital, Terry was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients, many of them young children, that he decided to spend the rest of his short life for the benefit of cancer patients ie run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. The idea for ‘The Marathon of Hope’ was born when he was recuperating from his amputation!!
Terry started training so he could run daily and raise money for cancer research. He trained for 15 months, running a total of 3,159 miles. Some days, he would run until his leg was raw and bleeding, but he didn’t relent running every day for 101 continuous days, taking only one day off at Christmas, only because his mother asked him, until he could run 23 miles a day every day.
When Terry approached the Canadian Cancer Society about his plan, its administrators were skeptical about his success. They doubted if he could raise $1 million and as a test of his sincerity, told him to earn some seed money and find some corporate sponsors. They believed they’d never hear from him again.
But Terry persevered, earning sponsors and the promise of promotion from the cancer society. On April 12, 1980, he dipped his artificial leg in the murky waters of St John’s harbor, Newfoundland and set off on the greatest adventure of his life.
Although it was difficult to garner attention in the beginning, enthusiasm soon grew, and the money collected along his route began to mount. He ran a marathon, close to 42 kilometres (26 miles) every day through Canada's Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario. He was planning to finish his run at Victoria, British Columbia, a RUN for charity across the continent from atlantic to pacific.
“Even though it was so difficult, there was not another thing in the world I would have rather been doing. I got satisfaction out of doing things that were difficult. It was an incredible feeling. The pain was there, but the pain didn’t matter. But that’s all a lot of people could see; they couldn’t see the good that I was getting out of it myself” Terry said when running.
People waited for hours on the roadside to watch Terry pass. Sometimes a stranger would press a $100 bill into his hand as he ran by.
Unfortunate Finish
However, on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles), Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario. He had started out strong that morning and felt confident. The road was lined with people shouting, “Don’t give up, you can make it!” words that spurred him and lifted his spirits. But after 18 miles he started coughing and felt a pain in his chest. It was soon discovered that the cancer had spread to his lungs, and he was unable to continue.
Terry spoke to reporters: “Well, you know, I had primary cancer in my knee three and a half years ago, and now the cancer is in my lung and I have to go home.” His voice broke as he spoke. He continued softly, “and have some more x-rays or maybe an operation that will involve opening up my chest or more drugs. I’ll do everything I can. I’m gonna do my very best. I’ll fight. I promise I won’t give up.”
As he fought for his life, he was honoured with awards: He was the youngest Companion of the Order of Canada, the nation’s top civilian honour; he was named Newsmaker of the Year by the Canadian Press; he won the Lou Marsh trophy for outstanding athletic achievement; his portrait was hung in the Sports Hall of Fame and letters of encouragement came from around the world; and, most importantly, donations to his Marathon of Hope reached $23.4 million. The Guinness Book of Records named him top fundraiser. A mountain was named after him in British Columbia.
Terry died, his family beside him, on June 28, 1981 – one month short of his twenty-third birthday.
#TerryFoxRun
There was nation-wide mourning. Flags were flown at half-mast. But people didn’t forget him, and his story didn’t end with his death. The first Terry Fox Run was held that September with more than 300,000 people participating, raised $3.5 million.
The heroic Canadian was gone, but his legacy was just beginning. Terry became a symbol of Hope, courage and selflessness.
Terry Fox did not fear his death, neither he spent the rest of his life in despondent mode. He died for a cause, created a movement when he was counting his days, died happily satisfied with what he did in his short life.
“Terry did not lose his fight,” Isadore Sharp, Four Seasons’ President said. “Perhaps he finished all he had to do. Terry is like a meteor passing in the sky, one whose light travels beyond our view, yet still shines in the darkest night.”
#TerryFoxFoundation
To date, over $800 million has been raised worldwide for cancer research in Terry's name through the annual Terry Fox Run, held across Canada and around the world.
Terry’s brother, Fred Fox, one of the leaders at the foundation today said about Terry “Terry didn’t care for being called a hero. Terry was an average, ordinary Canadian kid who believed that if you work hard and never giveup, anything is possible if you try”.
#ProtectionForParikshit
Widely accepted version of Parikshit’s story is that he gracefully and fearlessly steered his life through the last 7 days. However, there is another version of the story on how he tried to protect his life against possible death. Let us see this version and the learnings from this version in our next episode.
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Authored by Jaganathan T (www.authorjaganathan.com) and published every Monday exclusively for LinkedIn readers. Please follow tjaganathan@futurecalls.com to read every Monday.
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3yInspiring to read about Terry Fox. Thanks for sharing