McCallion
Quest

Remembering Terry Fox.... Just in case you Forgot, this is why we Hazel Students did what we did.

By Samia Kazmi

 In the fall of 1979, Terrance Stanley Fox was determined to run across Canada, hoping to raise money for cancer research. His goal was to receive at least a dollar from every Canadian. Terry had a great dream and he was eager to fulfill it, but he knew it would it take a lot of time, and effort, especially since he was planning to run without 2 good legs. But Terry refused to give up because he felt he needed to help cancer patients. He knew what kind of pain they were going through and did not want cancer victims in the future to suffer as well. Terry had cancer too, and was forced to have his right leg amputated. Although Terry had a prosthetic limb, it did not stop him from chasing after his dreams.

            On the morning of April 12th, 1980 Fox dipped his artificial leg into the Atlantic Ocean in St.John's, Newfoundland to start his run. He then set off to finally begin running the Marathon of Hope. Averaging 26 miles a day, Terry made it through five provinces, but then he gradually started developing some pain in his chest and neck. As his condition worsened, Terry went through an examination and learned that the cancer had reached to his lungs.  

            Later on, in Thunder Bay Ontario, after running 3,339 miles he was forced to stop his run because he began to get weaker. On June 28, 1981, Terry Fox sadly died of osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer). Although this heroic Canadian passed away, he is fondly remembered every September. Although 25 years have passed since his death, Terry Fox’s legacy has just begun, and hopefully, if we young Canadians continue to remember this legacy, his dream and accomplishments will be passed on to generations and generations to come. 

            Schools all across Canada have begun to throw their support behind Terry’s movement as well. Beginning last September and hopefully every September from now on, schools now run or walk to help raise money for cancer research.  

            On the day of the walk and run, Hazel McCallion Senior Public School students were eagerly waiting in the gym to get their walk or run started. To get everyone psyched for Terry Fox Day, Mr. Ferrin challenged the HMC students to some fun Terry Fox trivia. As a reward, he would give out the school’s very own Terry Fox chocolate bars as a prize. The trivia continued until our very own mayor of Mississauga arrived, to kick off the event. Mayor Hazel McCallion entered the gym to a loud and appreciative applause, stopping along the way to give high fives to various Hazel students. When the applause had died down, she gave a short speech on the importance of Terry Fox’s accomplishments and she made sure we realized the full impact of his dream. To show her appreciation for all of our efforts in celebrating the day, at the very end of the pep rally, she generously donated $500 that would go towards our collective school goal of $6543.21.  

            After all of HMC was finished their walk/run, the students got a short recess break, and the teachers put on quite a show for the school. Some teachers played a friendly game of “Chuck the Chicken”, which was quite amusing to everyone lining the field to watch. 

            Terry Fox Day was a huge success and the money pledges from students were still coming in at the time of this writing. Terry’s dream, the one that kept him going on his cross country run, was that he didn’t want anyone else to suffer from cancer. He decided to do something about it. No matter what happens in the never ending battle against cancer, Terry’s generosity and determination will be remembered and his legacy will always live on. At Hazel, this past week, we made sure that it did. And now, like him, we must keep striving to do more next year and to keep his dream alive.