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All of the Canadians on this forum will be very familiar with the story of this courageous young man but I thought I'd share it with the rest of the world. It gives me hope and inspiration when confronting my hair loss and many other challenges in life (especially long distance running!). I hope you find it to be equally inspiring.
At 18 years of age, Terry Fox was diagnosed with bone cancer and had his leg amputated 6 inches above his knee. During his time in the cancer ward at the hospital he saw the suffering children went through and that many of them had given up against cancer.
When he left the hospital he decided he was going to make a difference in the fight against cancer for all those who were still suffering. He decided he was going to run across Canada, with one leg.
He trained for 18 months, running 5,000 km. Finally he decided to embark on his Marathon of Hope. He started at the Atlantic ocean in Newfoundland (Eastern Canada) and headed west to his home in British Columbia.
He ran 26 miles (42 kilometers)...a marathon....every single day...for 143 days...on one leg.
Unfortunately by the time he reached Thunder Bay, Ontario the cancer had metastasized to his lungs and he had to stop his Marathon of Hope. Sadly, he passed away at the age of 22.
His initial goal was to raise $1 for every Canadian (24 million) but each year in Canada and around the world the Terry Fox run is held and has raised more than $500 million in Terry's name.
Here's a great documentary about him. Some of the things I've stated in this story are quotes from the documentary. Steve Nash has directed a documentary on Terry Fox called "Into the Wind' airing on ESPN.
Moral of the Story
The moral I want to get across is that just like in Terry's case, you cannot change fate. But you can change how you react to it. It's written in our genes that we are going to lose our hair, just as it was in Terry's that he was going to get cancer (not exactly a fair comparison because it could have been due to mutation and not inheritance but I digress).
Do you think Terry cared about how people thought he looked? That they would view him as a cripple or a lesser being? It didn't matter to Terry, he knew what he wanted to do in life and he had the utmost confidence doing it.
I hope this story can teach you, as it has taught me, that if you approach everything in life with confidence, no matter what you look like, people will respect you.
Life's too short to be worrying about what we look like. We should be out in the world living our lives and meeting attractive women! If Terry didn't let cancer and a leg amputation stop him from accomplishing something so amazing, then really, what excuse do those of us suffering from hairloss have?
At 18 years of age, Terry Fox was diagnosed with bone cancer and had his leg amputated 6 inches above his knee. During his time in the cancer ward at the hospital he saw the suffering children went through and that many of them had given up against cancer.
When he left the hospital he decided he was going to make a difference in the fight against cancer for all those who were still suffering. He decided he was going to run across Canada, with one leg.
He trained for 18 months, running 5,000 km. Finally he decided to embark on his Marathon of Hope. He started at the Atlantic ocean in Newfoundland (Eastern Canada) and headed west to his home in British Columbia.
He ran 26 miles (42 kilometers)...a marathon....every single day...for 143 days...on one leg.
Unfortunately by the time he reached Thunder Bay, Ontario the cancer had metastasized to his lungs and he had to stop his Marathon of Hope. Sadly, he passed away at the age of 22.
His initial goal was to raise $1 for every Canadian (24 million) but each year in Canada and around the world the Terry Fox run is held and has raised more than $500 million in Terry's name.
Here's a great documentary about him. Some of the things I've stated in this story are quotes from the documentary. Steve Nash has directed a documentary on Terry Fox called "Into the Wind' airing on ESPN.
Moral of the Story
The moral I want to get across is that just like in Terry's case, you cannot change fate. But you can change how you react to it. It's written in our genes that we are going to lose our hair, just as it was in Terry's that he was going to get cancer (not exactly a fair comparison because it could have been due to mutation and not inheritance but I digress).
Do you think Terry cared about how people thought he looked? That they would view him as a cripple or a lesser being? It didn't matter to Terry, he knew what he wanted to do in life and he had the utmost confidence doing it.
I hope this story can teach you, as it has taught me, that if you approach everything in life with confidence, no matter what you look like, people will respect you.
Life's too short to be worrying about what we look like. We should be out in the world living our lives and meeting attractive women! If Terry didn't let cancer and a leg amputation stop him from accomplishing something so amazing, then really, what excuse do those of us suffering from hairloss have?
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