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| Families Out In Support Of Terry Fox |
So inevitably after a quiet time comes a busy one.
Last Saturday we head over to the school to participate in a Terry Fox family run. I think it's pretty safe to say that for Canadians Terry Fox is a national hero. For anyone not familiar with his story, he was a young Canadian diagnosed with cancer. He lost his leg in his fight with the disease.
In 1980, Terry Fox, by then a cancer survivor and amputee, decided that he needed to do something to raise awareness and to help fund more research to help future generations. So he made the bold decision to run across Canada. Given that Canada is the second largest nation on earth it was no small dream. His goal was to put his foot in both oceans by running a marathon a day, on an artificial leg.
His journey called the Marathon Of Hope is legendary. As a young man without means his journey started quietly with determination and perseverance, and a dip of the toe in the Atlantic Ocean.
By the time he reached Ontario the entire nation cheered him on. He was a celebrity. Collectively we watched him every night on the news. (It was the first news story that my husband and I ever watched as kids. It made a huge impression.) As a country we rushed out to the streets to cheer. Mobs of people ran along side him. We donated money to the cause.
Terry Fox never lost his vision and he ran a marathon a day for 143 days. In the end he ran a total of 5373 kilometers - with one leg. Think about that. It's staggering. As he reached the city of Thunder Bay the cancer spread and he was forced to stop. As a country we went quiet and we held our breath. We wanted him to get better. We wanted him to reach his goal. We wanted to see him put his toe in the Pacific Ocean.
But it was not a fairy tale ending. Terry Fox passed away. None of us will ever forget it. He was our hero. Terry Fox taught us so many things. He taught us humility. He taught us to never give up and to fight for what we believe in. He taught us that one person can make a huge difference.
His goal was to raise one dollar for every Canadian, roughly twenty million dollars at the time. Over thirty years later I'm sure he would be thrilled to know that he has raised hundreds of millions of dollars (I've read figures ranging from 400-500 million) in over 60 countries. It's an astounding achievement. More than that I'm sure he'd be thrilled to see families out together, exercising together, being healthy together. That was a beautiful thing to watch . . . walkers, runners and baby strollers all working in unison. What a thrill to share this piece of history with our kids all the way from Argentina!
Sunday brought an entirely different set of events. Michael played soccer in the morning. I took the kids to a birthday party. Afterward we met at home and re-grouped. Michael and Colin settled in for a boy's day. Meryn and I got all dolled up and drove downtown to see a stage production of Mamma Mia. As a long time lover of ABBA it felt like a must. At the Sunday matinee we were surrounded by people of all ages. Grandparents, kids and couples were all there. Funnily enough Liana and her family were there too. We did the eye wink from across the room and carried on with our little ones.
The show was fantastic. The singing was great. The costumes sparkly. It was a perfect day out for a mom and her girl. It's quite something to hear ABBA translated into Spanish . . . At the end they performed several dance numbers and the theatre went nuts. People stood up and danced and clapped and sang. At one point Meryn asked me why the floor was shaking and I replied, "it's from all the dancing." She smiled.
Afterward we went to one of our restaurants for dinner and then drove home to meet the boys after their day of modeling, video games and eating burgers from a favourite joint. It was a good day. ✿ Micheline
