Newspapers all over Canada, and the rest of the world, are today reporting on the many individual stories of hope, suffering, sadness and joy of millions of people who joined in yesterday on the 27th annual Terry Fox run to raise money for cancer research.

in Waterloo, a city in Canada’s Ontario, 450 people “ran, walked, biked and inline skated”, while in nearby Cambridge another 235 joined the run in the afternoon. Between them they raised nearly 50,000 dollars, said the Record newspaper.

These were just two races out nearly 900 held across Canada.

People from all walks of life, sharing one thing in common, their experience of fighting, surviving, struggling with, or losing someone to cancer, take part in the annual Terry Fox Run, and yesterday was no different.

One female runner had cut off her hair and donated it to charity.

Another male runner had had his back tattoed to celebrate the life and courage of Terry Fox.

A young girl of 10 took part because her father died of cancer in May earlier this year. She did the run with her mother and her aunt. She had started taking part in the annual event last year when her father who was very sick watched her finish.

Another young man completed his race despite having an artificial leg, like Terry Fox.

Another man carried his baby daughter on his back. He did the run because his mother had died of cancer.

Another young man from Alberta ran for 34 days all the way from his home in Cold Lake to Fox Run headquarters in Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. He raised over 25,000 dollars in pledges, said the Vancouver Province.

In Canada, the Terry Fox run is held in September every year on the second Sunday after Labour Day.

Annual runs are also held outside Canada, but not necessarily on the same day.

The first Terry Fox Run was held in 1981, the year that Terry Fox died.

Terry Fox was born in Manitoba and raised in British Columbia, near Vancouver on Canada’s west coast.

He was 18 when he was diagnosed with bone cancer and had to have his right leg amputated above the knee.

It was when he was in hospital in 1977 that Terry witnessed the suffering of cancer patients, children in particular, and decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.

He called it the Marathon of Hope.

He started in 1980 after practising for 18 months. He ran 26 miles (42 kilometres) a day across Canada’s Atlantic provinces of Quebec and Ontario. But on 1st September that year, after running for 143 days and over 3,000 miles, he had to stop because cancer had returned in his lungs. He was just outside Thunder Bay, Ontario.

Terry died the next year on 28th June 1981 at the age of 22.

The first Terry Fox run was in 1981 with 300,000 people taking part right across Canada. It raised 3.5 million dollars.

Since then more than 400 million dollars has been raised globally to fund cancer research through the annual Terry Fox Run.

The Run is a non-competitive event, bringing together families, friends and groups who want to raise money in Terry’s name.

There is no entry fee and no prizes. Runners get a certificate when they complete their journey.

Runs take place in large urban areas and small rural communities alike, and schools also do something during the school day.

The spirit of the Run is captured in these words spoken by Terry Fox in 1980:

“If you’ve given a dollar, you are part of the Marathon of Hope.”

Click here for more information about the Terry Fox Run.

Written by: Catharine Paddock