By Joan Janzen
Previously unseen footage of Terry Fox’s Marathon of Hope makes up the majority of the documentary Run Terry Run. As the documentary unfolds, the audience meets the iconic Terry Fox face to face as they listen to his voice.
This documentary is almost two hours of Terry. For the first time, Canadians are able to see footage of him running every day when there was no one there to applaud his efforts. The audience also hears long segments of him speaking, which makes the documentary come alive.
Terry was a quiet introvert and a young man of few words, but his confidence grew as he spoke from a heart of compassion and passion. He was able to touch the hearts of those who listened. He had a gift for engaging with young people and was inspired whenever he met an amputee younger than himself.
As a competitive 18-year-old, he faced the amputation of his leg with the same perseverance he showed when he had two legs. His friend said Terry would begin as the underdog on a sports team, but after a few years he would be one of the best players. That was Terry.
Following his amputation, he trained for three months before entering a marathon in Prince George, where he came in last, but it didn’t matter to Terry. As a kinesiology student, he was aware of what he could do with the ability he possessed. Even though he was in constant pain, he never indulged in self-pity.
He ignored the recommendations given by doctors and headed out on his run. Very few people knew his heart had been damaged by chemotherapy. Even when he began losing weight, causing his stump to shrink, he said he didn’t need a doctor. His companions would freeze Terry’s foot in ice each night to help relieve the pain.
His best friend and his younger brother accompanied him on his Marathon of Hope. They were together 24/7. Sometimes they had disagreements, which was understandable and perfectly normal. But when the media focused on those disagreements, Terry became very upset. He didn’t want perfectly normal interactions to be magnified.
The truth was Terry had a healthy sense of humour, which helped carry him through those long days. His friend Doug Alward said the trio became very close. “By the end, we were willing to die for each other,” he added.
Soon Terry’s story moved from the back page and became front-page news. Companies began coming on board, providing a van and other necessities, but he refused to endorse any products with his name. Although he achieved almost rock star status, he didn’t respond to the attention. His brother described him as “fully grounded.”
“People want to become greedy and selfish. Being famous is not the idea,” Terry said.
In spite of constantly running against the wind, he managed to run 42 km a day, never walking, always running. On one particular day it was so windy that his friend drove the van while his brother sat in the back with the doors open wide so Terry could be sheltered from the wind.
Finally, in July, he confessed for the first time that he might not finish his race. On Sept. 1, outside Thunder Bay, the cancer had reached his lungs and he was forced to stop.
Terry expressed his wishes, saying, “I hope people will continue where I left off.” And that’s exactly what happened, as $1 billion has been raised since everyone continued where Terry left off.
He kept insisting that we all have to do our part to try to find a cure, yet more than 40 years later, Terry’s vision of a cure is still somewhere on the horizon. “I believe in miracles. I have to,” Terry said.