Thunder Bay, Ontario - Terry Fox Monument

Terrance Stanley "Terry" Fox (1958-1981) was a Canadian humanitarian, athlete, and cancer treatment activist. He is considered a true Canadian hero. After losing his right leg to bone cancer, he began training with a prosthetic leg and decided to raise money for cancer research by running a Marathon of Hope across the country. His goal was to raise $1 for every Canadian man, woman, and child (about 22 million at the time) for cancer research.

He planned to run about 42 kilometres (26.2 miles) per day, the distance of a typical marathon, for a total of 5,300 miles. He dipped his artificial foot in the Atlantic Ocean at St. John's, Newfoundland and planned to dip it into the Pacific Ocean in Victoria, British Columbia. He stopped at points along the way to talk to people and spread a message of hope. He ran 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles, or about 23.3 miles per day) through Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, and part of Ontario, past the halfway mark. But just northeast of Thunder Bay, he was forced to stop due to chest pains and breathing problems. The cancer had spread to his lungs. The fundraising continued, however, and his goal was surpassed as $24.17 million was raised. Isadore Sharp, president of the Four Seasons Hotel, wrote Terry saying his dream would continue with an annual fundraising marathon, to be called the Terry Fox Run. This noncompetitive run is conducted all over the world every September, and it is the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research.

To Canadians, Terry Fox is an inspiring example of courage, determination, selflessness, strength of the human spirit, striving to make things better, and the difference one person can make. He has been honoured with a whole slew of awards, both before and after his death in 1981, and tens of millions of dollars have been raised in his name for research to improve cancer detection and find a cure.